O'Donovan Rossa , by Brian Na Banban.......
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .
They made him an exile , an outlaw ,
They slandered him living and dead ;
But his love or his hate never wavered ,
'Till the spirit God gave him had fled .
His crime was that Ireland , his Mother ,
Had called him to dare and to dree,
That one day her bonds might be riven ,
That one day her limbs might be free
From the chains of the English enslaver -
And proudly he answered her call ,
Nor cared what the future might bring him ,
So Ireland were freed from her thrall .
Bear him back to that Mother who loves him ,
Bear him back to the land he loved well ,
Go forth 'mong the children of Ireland ,
The tale of his triumph to tell.......
(MORE LATER).
ECONOMY IN CRISIS - An Historical Perspective.......By any standards the economy of Ireland , North and South , can be described as being in a sorry mess with crisis , recession and imminent bankruptcy the most constant themes of economic discussion , intermittently over the last decade and ceaselessly in the last three years . In this article , Peter Graham surveys the factors which have produced this economy , and the historical role of foreign and native Irish capital.
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1982.
As the unemployment spectre receded somewhat , Irish trade unions also began to flex their muscles again through the 1960's - a hopeful development which nonetheless was defused with the introduction of centralised wage baggaining at the beginning of the 1970's .
But the 'profit principle' of capitalism , native or foreign , always predominant , was to halt this industrial progress . Recession came on the scene in 1974 and foreign capital began to be pulled out as speedily and as clinically as it had come in . By that time , too , the Free State had abandoned its economic sovereignty , such as it was , having become the very junior member of the EEC with all its restrictions .
Even agriculture , which in cash terms appeared to benefit from this membership , continued its ceaseless trend of putting profit in the pocket of the large farmer - still producing only cattle - and saw the small , poorer farmers continue to grow even poorer or disappear altogether.......
(MORE LATER).
PRISONERS RIGHTS - the mark of a civilised society .......From 'Fourthwrite' magazine, Autumn 2003.
By Siobhan O'Dwyer.
I would ask people who oppose the way that the 'war on terrorism' is being used to wipe away the few remaining legal safeguards left to ordinary people and to impose a system of fear and oppression across the West as well as in the targeted countries of the Middle East , to stand up now for the rights of republican prisoners and their families .
The republican prisoners in Maghaberry and elsewhere would not be in prison if it were not for the political situation in Ireland .
That is an unfashionable and scary truth for many people who prefer to think that the capitulation of 'mainstream' Provisional republicanism is actually a victory and that those who oppose the 'new' regime can be easily labeled 'Terrorists' and 'Dissidents' and therefore deserve all they get.......
(MORE LATER).
