THE COALISLAND STORY : British Torture In Ireland....... From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .
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 again 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 .
[END of 'THE COALISLAND STORY : British Torture In Ireland']
(Next : 'Republican Martyrs of 1957' - from the same source)
KING OF THE YUPPIE HEARTLAND....... !
Dessie O'Malley would expect to draw his support almost exclusively from middle-class areas , but if he is to succeed in getting the twenty seats he hopes for that support base would also have to include working-class areas , especially in Dublin . On the evidence of one day spent with PD leader O'Malley ,that working-class support is unlikely to be forthcoming.
From 'IN DUBLIN' ELECTION SPECIAL , 1987.
By Derek Dunne.
RTE interview Dessie O' Malley walking around ; he now believes that the PD's can get more than twenty seats . One on-looker remarks that he has his work cut out for himself to get that number of seats . Dessie shakes hands with a travelling woman who is standing minding her own business . " Would ya dance with that woman...? " , asks a passing cyclist , which prompts Dessie's handlers to make snide remarks and jokes about the woman's appearance . Of such are the PD's made.
There are ten minutes to spare now , and Dessie is clearly not too enthusiastic about getting on the bus again . It is also clear that he is getting fed up , but they eventually move off . In Ranelagh , the PD's are in the heart of 'Yuppieland' : there are enough middle-class voters here who know the local candidate Michael McDowell and who will vote for him , although it is unlikely that he will be elected.
Dessie , it emerges , believes in diagnostic medicine more than most - he believes that you can have better medical services with less money being involved. One journalist remarks that Dessie O Malley sounds exactly like Margaret Thatcher before she came to power in Britain - that she rose on a middle class vote and proceeded to screw everyone on social welfare . Dessie looks to be heading the same way , and he is the 'Man Of The Moment' . Then he made a comment about people's lack of understanding where money is concerned.......
(MORE LATER).
REPUBLICAN MOURNERS DEFEAT RUC.
Between December 1983 and May 1987 , over 25 republican or nationalist funerals were systematically attacked by the RUC as a matter of deliberate British policy . The objective was to drive mourners off the streets so that later Britain could claim dwindling support for republicanism as 'evidenced' by the small numbers attending IRA funerals . As Jane Plunkett reports , the opposite happened . More and more people came out to defend the remains of republican dead , the RUC were exposed as being as brutal and sectarian as ever , and these two factors , combined with damaging international news coverage , eventually forced the British government to reverse its policy of attacking republican funerals .
From 'IRIS' magazine , October 1987.
The May 1987 attack by the RUC on the funeral of (P)IRA Volunteer Finbarr McKenna was the pre-planned and bloody culmination of a strategy launched by the British government over three years earlier . But , paradoxically , Finbarr McKenna's funeral also signalled that strategy's defeat .
Once again , thousands of mourners , and in particular a bereaved family , had shown to the world that - despite escalating repression - the determination of nationalists in the occupied Six Counties to bury their dead with honour and dignity was as strong as ever . On May 6th , 1987 , the world's TV cameras recorded scenes reminiscent of South Africa as steel-helmeted RUC men batoned and kicked peaceful mourners .
Outside the Royal Victoria Hospital, in full view of horrified staff , the RUC fired at least five plastic bullets at head height into the crowd , on the pretext of a few stones being thrown . Several people were carried into the hospital with blood streaming from head wounds : at least 19 people altogether received hospital treatment and one of them had his shoulder broken by one of the bullets . Many more were too afraid of RUC harassment to seek hospital treatment . Gerry Adams stated that the aim of the RUC attack was "...purely to terrorise the nationalist people off their own streets.." ('1169...' Comment : ....which is not the job of the 'PSNI' , of course..)
(MORE LATER).
