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 .
(15 of 17).
After the hearing , Gwen Reed's family had to leave the North , and they are now in a witness-protection scheme in Britain . So just where was the 'compromise' in this man , Billy Wright , who talked of dearly wanting peace ?
The father of two girls and two boys , divorced and in a second relationship , who wished for his children that " ... there would be peace and reconciliation , and that the country (sic) would flourish . " It seemed what he really wanted was total victory and total peace ; he did'nt think so - he wanted the " constitutional issue solved " (within a British context) , he said , and felt that then " ... the parades issue and similar things like that could be settled without the underlying threat of it being more devious than it appears . "
(MORE LATER).
STONE COLD .......
Michael Stone is infamous for his attack on a republican funeral at Belfast's Milltown cemetery . By his own count , he has murdered four men and had a hand in the deaths of six others . He says his war is over - but he still expects to meet a violent end .
By Andrew Lynch .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , July 2003 , pages 34, 36 , and 38 .
Re-published here in 13 parts .
(2 of 13).
Michael Stone cannot enter a strange room without mentally scanning the exits . He rarely sees any of the nine children he has by his two ex-wives ; he spends most of his time utterly alone , waiting for his past to catch up with him ...
One day , he fully accepts, his luck will run out : " You'll turn on the radio one morning and hear that Michael Stone has been shot dead , " he says matter-of-factly . " That's how I expect to die , with a bullet in my head . I just hope it happens quickly and that none of my family or friends are around at the time . It'll be a soldier's death , because that's what I am . I'm a British Loyalist and proud of it . When I joined up for the cause at the age of 16 , I knew that death or prison were the only possible outcomes . And on March 16th , 1988 , I probably signed my own death warrant . "
On that date , Michael Stone wrote himself into history as one of the most notorious terrorists ever thrown up by 'the Troubles' ; the scene was Belfast's Milltown Cemetery , the occasion the funeral of three IRA members shot dead by the British SAS in Gibraltar .......
(MORE LATER).
NO COMPROMISE . (Editorial Comment).
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 4.
(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.
The Twenty-Six and Six County Parliaments were established by English force ; they were consolidated by the threat of immediate and terrible war . Since 1918 , the Irish people have not had the opportunity of expressing their desires or their opinions on the principle national issue of foreign interference and occupation .
Politicians motivated by fear of economic or political sanctions have confused the minds of the Irish people north and south ; personalities became more important than policies . Leinster House and Stormont are instruments of British government in Ireland . They are English in their conception and administration . To accept either as the fulfilment of Irish patriot aspirations would be a dastardly betrayal .
Sinn Fein Teachtai Dala (ie Sinn Fein members elected to Leinster House) will not accept and will not give either parliaments the appearance of NATIONAL validity by their presence in them . We do not claim a monopoly of Irish Nationalism ; we but follow the teachings of our National fathers . Apart from the principles involved (which preclude Irish Republicans and Separatists from accepting anything less than the complete separation of Ireland from England ) - as a matter of mere tactics and expediency it is futile for any Irishman or group of Irishmen to imagine that they can improve Ireland's economic condition while Ireland is divided and while England maintains her grip on Irish economy through her financial system .
Political impotence and futility inevitably follows entrance into either of these institutions ; Ireland has had enough of it . ('1169...' Comment - 1957 or 2005 ; true today as it was then ).
The days of mental reservations are gone . Honour must be upheld . Ireland is a Nation and will be united despite the power of England .
[END of 'NO COMPROMISE'].
(Monday - 'Letter to the Editor' from Ruaidhri O Bradaigh , Mountjoy Prison).
