'ARE THESE CHARGES TRUE....... ?' From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .
Such torture will not come as a surprise to veterans in the fight for independence ('1169...' Comment - the on-going fight for independence , that is...) here who have painful memories of what happened them when they fell to the 'tender mercies' of the Black and Tans.
These allegations are so serious that they warrant immediate investigation and if Stormont and the British occupation forces are to clear themselves in the eyes of the world they will expose the torturers or convincingly disprove the charges that have been levelled against them .
[END of 'ARE THESE CHARGES TRUE ?']
(Next : ' In Curragh Concentration Camp...' - from the same source)
THE PRISONS OF THE PAST.......
In a jail outside Belfast , republican prisoners have begun smearing their cells with excrement . They are demanding the right to political status . We have been here before.....
From 'MAGILL' magazine August 2003 .
By Niall Stanage.
There are currently over 500 prisoners in Maghaberry Prison : many of them are charged with , or have been convicted of , non-paramilitary offences : there are also a small number of so-called 'immigration detainees' (asylum-seekers) who are not charged with any crime . But also included in the mix are around 25 'dissident republicans' and a significantly larger number of loyalists .
One loyalist , Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair, is by far the prison's most 'famous' resident , though for him segregation has never been a problem - he is kept in isolation for his own safety .
The 'dissident republicans' complain that the prison authorities have been pressing them into closer and closer proximity with loyalists , and the loyalists are equally dissatisfied with this state of affairs . At the end of June (2003) eight prisoners staged a rooftop protest and , soon afterwards , the republicans began wrecking their cells . By early July , they began a 'dirty protest'- that is , they started to smear their cells with their own excrement . The protest continues at the time of writing.......
(MORE LATER).
CRISIS - WHICH CRISIS.......?This election is not about the 'economy' . It's about the survival of sectional interests , clearly divided in a broader , simpler way than for many a long day . This election is not about the survival of the country (sic) : it's about choosing who will bear the cost of that survival.
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine, 'Election Special' , 1987.
By David McKenna.
This election is not about 'the economy' : it's about the survival of sectional interests , clearly divided in a broader , simplier way than for many a long day . On the one hand , there are those people , many of them writers and readers of 'quality' Sunday newspapers , who are in a position to ride out the consequences of the cuts in public spending which they propose .
And on the other , there are the people who would bear the brunt of those cuts . This election is not about the survival of the country - it's about choosing who will bear the cost of that survival .
[END of 'CRISIS-WHICH CRISIS ?']
(Next : 'Taking It Handy' : from the same source)
