'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....'
By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.But to let on to hope that the Six Counties would choose to stay in would be transparent nonsense : the real issue was what provision the Treaty would make to force the Six-County Government (sic) back after it had opted out. This end would be achieved by a clause in the Treaty which would impose on the Six Counties a Boundary Commission which , on the basis of local option, would leave Stormont with only an uneconomic farm around Belfast.
Inviting Arthur Griffith to exult over the territorial transfer which must come from local option , Lloyd George let on to discover the Glens of Antrim , which would want to opt out of 'the North'. Some phrase would have to be inserted to contain that area , and so it was - "....so far as may be compatible with economic and geographic conditions.." . Griffith , with his mind on the Glens area and Lloyd George's on Tyrone and Fermanagh, was surely very tired or very bothered , or a man of very limited gifts, not to relate this wording with alert suspicion to Lloyd George's talk of "an uneconomic farm around Belfast".
Indeed , it was a shade reckless of Lloyd George to risk going so close to stating that the Boundary Commission could invoke these words against such use of local option as would reduce 'the North' to an "uneconomic farm around Belfast". However ; the Boundary Commission arrived at its finding and word of it was allowed to leak into a British daily newspaper - the finding was what Lloyd George had in mind from the outset.... (MORE LATER).
THE ANATOMY OF AN AFTERNOON : THE STORY OF THE GIBRALTAR KILLINGS........
The rules for 'Operation Flavius' were specially drawn up based on the standard 'Rules of Engagement' for all British Army operations - up to the Gibraltar inquest these had remained classified , to the extent that even 'Soldiers A-D' were not actually allowed to read them before the operation, but by the end of the second week of the inquest many members of the British press had mysteriously acquired copies of them.
The specially adapted rules for 'Operation Flavius' were briefly as follows : military personnel were to operate as directed by the Gibraltar Police Commissioner or by officer(s) designated by him to control the operation. If the latter requested military intervention they were to assist the local police in arresting the IRA ASU , but were to do all in their power to protect the lives and safety of members of the public and security forces. They were not to use force unless requested to do so by the Police Commissioner or in order to protect life , in which case they were not to use "more force than is necessary".
They were only to open fire if they had reasonable grounds for believing that an action was about to be committed which was likely to endanger life "and if there is no other way to prevent this". A warning was to be given before firing and this was to be "as clear as possible and include a direction to surrender and clear warning that fire will be opened if the direction is not obeyed". However , they could fire without warning if the giving of such warning was "clearly impracticable" or likely to cause a delay in firing which might lead to death or injury. It was specifically stated in the 'Rules of Engagement' that the military were not to enter or fire at any person on Spanish territory or territorial waters. (MORE LATER).
PICKET AND PUBLIC MEETING IN SUPPORT OF MARTIN COREY.
The 'Release Martin Corey Campaign' (Dublin) will be holding a picket this Saturday (28th September 2013) on the traffic isle facing the GPO in O'Connell Street , Dublin , from 12 Noon to 2pm , and a public meeting re this injustice will be held afterwards in a near-by venue. All Welcome!
'WE ENGLISH HAVE WON FIRST PRIZE IN THE LOTTERY OF LIFE'.
'A' is the Army
That dies for the Queen;
It's the very best Army
That ever was seen.
'B' stands for Battles
By which England's name
Has for ever been covered
With glory and fame.
'C' is for Colonies,
Rightly we boast
That of all the great nations
Great Britain has most.
.....and so on and so on : a bed-time story book , believe it or not, written by a Mary Frances Leslie Miller (aka Mrs Ernest Ames) , a Canadian born in 1853 , and who died at 76 years of age in 1929. Another pro-British propagandist , Major Vivian Street , explained in a nutshell the methods employed by himself and those like Mary Miller (incidentally , Mr Street maintained the 'connection' to children by associating with the 'Save the Children Fund' organisation....) - "In order that it may be rendered capable of being swallowed, propaganda must be dissolved in some fluid which the patient will readily assimilate..."
In this wee corrupt little Statelet , the "fluid" that the propagandists are using is called 'austerity' and , whilst the use of such propaganda seems to be working (as , it appears, an ever-increasing number of people now share the opinion that 'times are tough and we all have to scale back..') , the "fluid" itself is poisoning society : "....austerity has protected the rich at the expense of the rest. In practice, it has produced the single biggest transfer of resources from low and middle-income people to the rich and powerful in history. The main beneficiaries of this transfer have been parts of the corporate sector (mostly multinationals) and wealthy individuals..." (from here.)
To make matters worse , some people are of the opinion that if the present State administration of Fine Gael and Labour are removed from Office , at least half or some of our troubles will be over - not so, unfortunately. The damage has been done and it will take more than mere 'cosmetic change' or propaganda to fix things. The patient needs surgery. And quickly.
MORE PICS FROM 'EVE RALLY' IN DUBLIN , SATURDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER 2013.
As mentioned previously , Des Dalton and Cait Trainor (who Chaired the event) both delivered fine speeches on the day , as did Peggy King , Diarmuid Mac Dubhghlais and Galway man Brian Kilcommins.
A crowd gathered on the traffic isle and 'foot traffic' came to a standstill on both sides of O'Connell Street giving , overall , an accumulated crowd of hundreds , during the hour and twenty minutes that the Rally was on. As expected , State operatives , uniformed and in plain clothes, monitored the proceedings but apart from 'name checking' those in attendance at the Garden of Remembrance and , later, those on the traffic isle , they kept themselves to themselves.
The only 'minus point' during proceedings (the "incident" I referred to in that earlier post) was in connection to the leaflet 'packs' which myself and three other supporters were tasked with distributing : as stated , we were given 400 such 'packs' - a total literature count of 1,800 pieces - between us (100 'packs' each) which , from experience , we knew would not suffice for the job at hand , and we spent the last two weeks attempting to get at least double that amount each , but to no avail....
.....and , true enough , our fears were well founded : twenty-five minutes before the Rally ended , frantic phone calls were made to John at the GPO from myself and the other two girls , as we had all ran out of leaflet 'packs' but , as it happened, John had only about twenty of them left for his own use and told us he was just about to phone us to ask that we get to the GPO with all available material as it was needed for distribution there !
But apart from the leaflet shortage (....and the continuing shortage of raffle tickets to sell at the monthly raffle!) the Rally went like clockwork - the RSF team at the Garden of Remembrance ensured that the Parade was well presented and that it made its way to the GPO on time and the RSF team at the GPO ensured that the Parade had a stage and lectern to assemble at when it reached the GPO and the team the put the amp system together made sure that all those delivering a speech could be heard. A great result for the Movement ; congrats to all concerned , and please note that more pics and a transcript of the speeches delivered at the Rally will be published in the October 2013 issue of 'Saoirse' , which goes to print on Wednesday 2nd of that month.
RUC / PSNI / GAA : ONE LETTER IN THE DIFFERENCE.....
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Regular readers will know that I'm not a big sports fan and it's not an exaggeration to say that the only 'value' I put on 'things sporting' would be to avail of the match , game , contest etc to leaflet the crowd , sell raffle tickets or , indeed, to take advantage of the occasion to hold a republican rally at. And , it seems , the British armed forces in this country share my opinion in that regard : from a propaganda point of view , it is understandable that said 'peace keeping' forces should seek to integrate with the 'natives' and, fully aware that most of the Irish people are sports mad and will go to almost any length and put up with , it seems, no end of injustice and spare no expense when it comes to satisfying their sporting urges (!) , the Brits don't only seek to capitalise on the actual sports field but in brochures and other forms of marketing , too.
And , depending on the moral code and values of the sporting organisation which is selling the advertising space in the brochure , money talks and nothing else , it seems , matters. But when the sporting organisation in question was formed for "the social elevation" of the Irish people such an organisation does itself no favours , to put it mildly, by cosying up to those who not only do not have "the social elevation" of the Irish at heart but who have a long and bloody history of working against that "elevation". But 'money talks' and , unfortunately , the GAA is all ears - so they should hear this protest against them promoting a British 'police force' in Ireland : "The hierarchy of the GAA has, like so many before them, betrayed the principles the organisation was founded on in return for monetary gain.....the RUC/PSNI have no place on a GAA pitch nor should they be endorsed by them....." (more here). No doubt that the GAA bosses will be made aware of that statement and no doubt , either, but that they will ignore it. Because it would cost them some of their profit to heed it.
Incidentally , the biggest and most sought after 'prize' in the GAA sporting calendar is the 'Sam Maguire Cup' but perhaps we can expect that to change if RUC/PSNI advertising money is at stake - after all , that British 'police force' couldn't be expected to keep paying good Sterling to any sporting organisations which 'supports terrorism'....
"F*CKING SHOWER OF CLOWNS. PUSHOVERS...."
The State 'banking regulator' , the Central Bank , has looked at the main player in the banking sector collapse in this State and , practically , shrugged its shoulders and muttered 'So What'. Or at least that's the way I have interpreted its most recent press release in relation to the issue : "The Central Bank has reviewed the issues arising in the tapes of call recordings at Anglo Irish Bank (now Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited (in Special Liquidation)) which were released to date in the Irish Independent. The tapes raised concerns that Anglo may have deliberately misrepresented its financial position when it sought financial support from the Central Bank in 2008. The Central Bank has examined Anglo’s interaction with the Central Bank at the time in relation to this matter. No new issues have been identified that relate to suspected criminal offences having occurred and as a result, the Central Bank does not intend, and is not required, to make any further statutory reports of suspected criminal offences to An Garda Síochána or the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement in relation to this matter" (from here).
Very humane indeed of this 'regulator' , considering the offender was not very humane in relation to it and also considering that it - Anglo - played a huge part in bankrupting this State and its citizens. Especially so when you take into account that Anglo bosses knew exactly what they were doing , as they gambled with money they hadn't got , and lost. But they were 'bold' in their defeat - "We need the fucking loans because we’re running out of money. We gave you the term sheet. Can we have the money? Get into the fucking simple speak: We need the moolah, you have it, so you’re going to give it to us, and when would that be? Because if they don’t, don’t give to us on Monday they have a bank collapse, potentially, if the fucking money keeps running out the door, the way it has been running out the door. Yeah and we’ll be saying: Yeah, because a stress, because HBOS were fucking sold and Lehman’s went bust and fucking Bank of America fucking took over Merrill’s and other fucking non-normal things happened, you cunt.....fucking shower of clowns...pushovers..." (from here and here).
Yet the 'regulator' is happy to 'let it go' , without even a cosmetic slap on the wrist for the wrongdoers.But that's the way 'business' is done in this banjaxed , banana 'republic' , where the only thing wrong with 'pulling a stroke' is being caught or , rather , used to be getting caught. If you were a 'little guy' - a mechanic or painter and decorator etc - doing a nixer and the 'regulator' caught you , you will be punished. But if you're a well-connected 'big fish' caught 'doing a nixer' with billions of Euro which was not your own, well.... '....no issues of suspected criminal offence identified...'. "Fucking shower of clowns" is right , but I suspect it's us taxpayers they were talking about.
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
