THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE IRISH STRUGGLE .......This article is based on a lecture delivered by Sean O Bradaigh in Dublin on January 21 , 1989 , marking the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the First (All-Ireland) Dail Eireann in the Mansion House on January 21 , 1919 , and the links between Irish and French Republicans - 'Partners in Revolution' 200 years ago .
Published in 1989 by Sean Lynch , Cleenrath , Aughnacliffe , County Longford , on behalf of the County Longford Branch of the National Graves Association .
By Sean O Bradaigh .
Liberte ! Egalite ! Fraternite ! Ou La Mort ! ( (Freedom ! Equality ! Brotherhood ! or Death!).
Unite Indivisibilite De La Republique !
The first meeting of the First Dail Eireann was a trilingual occasion ; the Teachtai spoke to their own people in Irish and English : to the world they spoke in English and French . Since the 17th century , French has been the language of diplomacy and in its written form often the language of treaties - this came about because diplomats appreciated its precision and clarity as a language .
The French Revolution of 1789 marks a significant date in the history of mankind : in France , it brought to an end the absolute power of monarchs , aptly expressed in the Latin phrase "Lex Rex , Rex Lex" , : "The Law is the King and the King is the Law ." The tyranny and abuses of King and aristocracy were ended and a new regime was inaugurated , based on the Republican and Democratic ideas enshrined in the motto ' Liberty , Equality , Fraternity ' .
On July 14 , 1789 , the populace stormed the Bastille , the state prison which symbolised the King's absolute power ; from that date on , nothing could stop the Revolution .......
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BLOODY SUNDAY.......On 30 January 1972 , 14 civilians were shot dead by the British Army . They had been taking part in a civil rights march in Derry , protesting against internment without trial .
British 'Lord' Widgery was highly selective in the 'evidence' he used in his 'official' report on the matter - and some of the accounts he chose to include were highly suspect. The victims' families have campaigned for justice ever since . Their case is too strong to ignore any longer .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1998 .
By Eamonn McCann .
When 'British Soldier 127' summoned the RUC , the photographer and John Charteris ('Times' newspaper) , the nail-bombs were , literally , sticking out from Gerald Donaghey's pockets ! Charteris told the tribunal that he could see one of them clearly from outside the car , protruding from Donaghey's denin-jacket pocket : it is scarcely to exaggarate , and not at all facetious , to speculate that a 10-year-old of average intelligence could work out what happened here .
But 'Lord' Widgery concluded that the nail-bombs had probably been in Gerald Donaghey's pockets all along - ' Donaghey had probably been a nail-bomber . The paras had probably had the right to kill him ' . The demands of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign , drawn up early in 1992 , are for a clear declaration of the innocence of all the victims , the repudiation of the Widgery Report , and the prosecution of those responsible for the shootings . Campaigners stress that they are not out for personal revenge -
" I am not fixated on having a 60-year-old Brit put in prison for murdering my father , " says Tony Doherty , whose father , Patrick , was shot dead at Joseph Place , " ... what I want is the complete truth ." It is the demand for a formal renunciation of the tribunal's conclusions that raises the need for a new inquiry - " No matter what apology is made or what sort of 'review' is offered , until the British government formally repudiates Widgery's report , his findings will remain on the record as the official truth of what took place , " says Tony Doherty , "...that's an insult . We will not accept it . "
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INFORMERS : The RUC's Psychological War ....... From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.
By Sean Delaney.
'Black' propaganda and the 'psy-ops' war :
The arrest and subsequent 'breaking' of Christopher Black in November 1981 came at a time when the objective political framework in which informers could be used to testify in court had been prepared ; the British administration was prepared to sanction the granting of immunity to informers who had implicated themselves in activities of a serious nature . This was undoubtedly a powerful motivation in the case of Black , who after being 'broken' in Castlereagh faced a long jail term after being released from Long Kesh .
But the willingness to pay informers huge sums of money - sums mentioned by informers who later retracted , of £50,000 and £75,000 , have undoubtedly been exceeded in many cases - and the RUC's tactic of holding an informer in isolation from contact with family or friends or , as in some cases , abducting members of his family to be with him , has also gradually succeeded in psychologically 'turning' some informers , including Christopher Black , so that they have increasingly acted out of a sense of 'identification' * with the RUC , and have allowed their 'evidence' to be concocted and 'schooled' by the RUC in such a way as to maximise the chances of convictions being secured . ( * '1169 ...' Comment - That 'identification tactic' is still working for Westminster - the Free Staters in Leinster House 'identify' more with Tony Blair [or whoever happens to be in Westminster at the time] than they do with Irish Republicans , whom they persecute.)
A similar sort of psychological disorientation tactic , since refined * , was used against American GI's during the war in Korea . (* '1169...' Comment - 'Refined' indeed : now , instead of a slap around the head , the Brits offer a suit , a salary , 'respect' , a career and a pension ! )
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