DYING BY THE SWORD .......
By Emer Woodful .
The murder of LVF leader BILLY WRIGHT has ignited the most violent spell in the North's recent history and threatened the peace process . He may well have considered it an appropriate legacy .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1998 , pages 30,31,34 and 35 .
Re-published here in 17 parts .
(10 of 17).
Billy Wright's involvement in violence started , he told me , because he saw his neighbours being " systematically murdered " : three of his own family were killed - his uncle , who was a member of the Salvation Army , his father-in-law and his brother-in-law .
" You know , " he said , " when you've looked into the coffins of the ones you love , and you've heard the feeble excuses coming from nationalists , words were'nt good enough ... " . He would never condemn any loyalist paramilitary killings ; he always tried to justify them by arguing that all the people killed by the loyalists were involved with the IRA .
But that simply was not the truth ; many ordinary Catholics were among the 41 people killed by the brutal hand of the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade .......
(MORE LATER).
WOMEN IN IRELAND'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM .......
By the late Cork Republican , Gearoid MacCarthaigh .
" (... barred from their meeting rooms in Cork's Thomas Ashe Hall , by Cathal Goulding , Cumann na mBan managed to gain entrance when the IRA guard was absent ..) .. As soon as the men in the Hall realised what had happened they tried to force open the door ; they failed to do this and the women continued their meeting until their business was finished , when they took down the barricades and marched in a body from the Hall past the red-faced men whom they had defeated .
The following Easter they sold their Easter Lilies as always only now they were abused by both the Special Branch and by their former male comrades who were still claiming to be the IRA .
Cumann na mBan attended Bodenstown , in uniform , in 1969 , not to take part in the parade but to distribute a leaflet which they had got printed specially for the occasion ; it was headed - ' Why We Fell Out Of The Parade Last Year ' and , in it , they told the full story of the moves that were going on in the IRA .
They gave full details of what has become known as the 10 Commandments which were the resolutions passed a few years before at an Extraordinary General Army Convention which called for entry to the Free State Dail , looking for permits for sale of Easter Lilies , recognition of Free State Courts , and applying for permission to the Free Staters and the RUC to hold parades and meetings . ('1169....' Comment - .. much the same as the Provisional 'movement' does today : including applying to the 'authorities' for a 'permit' to sell Easter Lilies , which are distributed in honour of the men and women that those same 'authorities' have executed ! The Republican Sinn Fein 'permit' , on the other hand , was 'taken out' in 1916 .... ! ).
I always say Cumann na mBan were the first Provos : after the Provisional Army Council was elected in December 1969 , Cumann na mBan issued a public statement giving their allegiance to it ....... "
(MORE LATER).
SINN FEIN RALLY IN DUBLIN .......
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 3.
(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].
Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
' On behalf of the Sinn Fein candidate for Dublin North-East - Tomas Misteil - Miceal Treinfir was the next speaker ; he put the policy of Sinn Fein to the meeting , and said - " We stand for Ireland ; we in Sinn Fein do not and will not appeal to your emotion but to your reason and we are convinced that when you read and understand the 'National Unity and Social and Economic Programme' of Sinn Fein , you will have no option but to vote Sinn Fein . "
Commenting on the Educational Programme of Sinn Fein , Miceal Treinfir quoted Terence McSwiney -
- " When Ireland was wholly free , Ireland was wholly Gaelic ; when Ireland was wholly Gaelic , Ireland was wholly free . "
Mr. Sean Lafferty , from Chicago , who is at present on holiday in Ireland , assured those present that the Irish exiles in Chicago and Philadelphia gave their full support to Sinn Fein ....... '
(MORE LATER).
READERS PLEASE NOTE - We are moving with the times here in '1169 Towers' ; as such , you have read one of the last printed versions of '1169 And Counting' - we will shortly be 'broadcasting' only on DVD format in the very near future . More details on Monday , 4th April .......).
