'BRITISH TERROR IN IRELAND :TELL THE WORLD THE FULL STORY'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .
'The most vicious forms of torture combined with brain-washing techniques are now being practised by the Crown authorities in Occupied Ireland to obtain 'confessions' . The Coalisland story is not an isolated instance . We have examples also from Derry , from Down , from Fermanagh - indeed , from all areas of Occupied Ireland .
A father and son arrested in Fermanagh within the past month were both brutally treated by the RUC . The father is now in the Omagh Mental Hospital .
A youth arrested in Kilkeel , County Down , had to be shifted to a mental hospital after his release from the RUC . A noted brain specialist has testified to his condition .
James Donnelly , Leo McGarry , James Hackett , Paddy Timony and Denis Cassin , of Armagh City , who were arrested on December 7 , were kept in tubs of cold water for four hours , were taken out and , while naked , had their feet stamped on and their bodies punched . Later they were beaten with rubber truncheons .
These things are happening in Occupied Ireland today . The Coalisland youths may be put in the dock any day now on capital charges , but as yet they are held uncharged and untried .
In Fermanagh , youths arrested during the last round-up are also uncharged and untried . But this has not prevented Stormont declaring that four of them will be charged and will receive stiff sentences . British 'justice' in Ireland now follows the rule : 'Announce the sentence first and then charge and try them' . Willing stooges , rejoicing in the name of "judges" , are ready to dispense the required sentence whenever called upon .
The London 'Observer' newspaper , on December 15 , 1957 , carried an article on brain-washing in which this statement appeared : " The real tortures are isolation and solitary confinement , prolonged interrogation , humiliation..." Now read the story of the Coalisland youths and see if the description fits . Britain may have gotten away with torture in Cyprus and other places , but she won't get away with it in Ireland . This isn't Kenya . There are Irish exiles with powerful voices in every corner of the globe and they will see to it that this story is told in full . The Irish people at home will not stand for it either . Our job now is to expose British atrocities in Ireland and tell the world the full story ' .
(MORE OF THESE ARTICLES TO FOLLOW...)
THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY. Swords (Dublin) councillor , Clare Daly , wiped a tear from her eye in the (State) High Court after being sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of Court in defying an injunction on her blockading bin lorries.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine, September 2003 .
It may have been a tear of joy in the knowledge that Fingal County Council- which brought the injunction - has gifted the 35-year-old Socialist Party member and her campaign , publicity beyond her wildest dreams . Not only this , but even SIPTU has now felt it necessary to come out , against all its instincts , and condemn the jailing of Clare Daly and party colleague , Leinster House member Joe Higgins. The question now is whether all this is enough to sweep Clare Daly - the Chairperson of the Fingal Anti-Bin Tax Campaign- into Leinster House at the next general election .
That the Technical , Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) is considering strike action over the protestors' jailing might not be that surprising , but for SIPTU General Secretary-Elect , Jack O' Connor, to come out in support of Clare Daly and Joe Higgins is astonishing as Dublin Airport catering shop steward , Clare Daly , is exactly the kind of bolshie rabble rouser that keeps the union top brass awake at night when they would prefer to be dreaming of plush boardroom meetings and those cute little bottles of Ballygowan .
Clare Daly has had run-ins with the SIPTU leadership in the past and they consider that her Trotskyist tendencies and tactics - blocking bin trucks and shouting through megaphones - just aren't cricket.......
(MORE LATER).
GLOSSARY OF THE LEFT IN IRELAND : FROM 1960 TO 1983....... These notes attempt to record the left-wing organisations which have existed in Ireland since 1960 . No attempt has been made to record purely local organisations outside Dublin and Belfast , or microscopic groups which never reached double figures . The larger organisations have been presented in more detail .
From 'GRALTON' magazine, 1983.
By John Goodwillie.
(NOTE : Links in the following article are as accurate as possible - not all the groups mentioned left a discernible 'footprint' .)
UNITED LABOUR PARTY: Formed in 1978 around Paddy Devlin as a non-sectarian labour party in the North of Ireland . Won one seat in the local elections in 1981 despite Paddy Devlin's departure .
WORKERS ALLIANCE FOR ACTION: A tendency in the Socialist Labour Party(SLP) , formed in 1978 around the Irish Workers Group. This organisation ceased to exist when they left the SLP in 1979 .
WORKERS LEAGUE: This group changed its name from the League For Workers Vanguard in 1971 . Trotskyist organisation affiliated to the International Committee of the Fourth International (Healthites). This group ceased to function around 1978 .
(MORE LATER).
