1169 And Counting.....

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

THE IRA : the new IRA is younger , more radical and has seen little of life other than violence.......
By Ed Moloney.
From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.

At the same time there are indications that the IRA could be conserving its resources for the 'long war' ; to hit when and where it hurts . " We could bomb all round us for three months and cause millions of commercial damage but we'd lose 40 or 50 men and maybe kill 9 or 10 civilians in the process . What would be the point of that ? " , asks one Northern IRA leader .

Despite temporary or long term setbacks the IRA remains essentially a product of an abnormal society in the North of Ireland , what Tim Pat Coogan calls a 'faecal society' . The IRA is not the problem in the North , it is only a reflection of the problem . And as long as the problem remains unsolved the IRA and its bloody campaign will persist . In that context it is worth quoting British General James M. Glover's conclusion to his 1978 assessment of the IRA : " The Provisional IRA's campaign of violence is likely to continue while the British remain in Northern Ireland (sic) ." ('1169...' Comment : not only was the Brit General wrong in his forecast , but he also failed to predict that the Provos would one day be assisting his type in enforcing their administrative 'controls' in the Six Counties!)

(MORE LATER).

BLACK PROPAGANDA AND BLOODY MURDER.

British Army Captain John Colin Wallace.

First it was the Maguire family - claiming they had been wrongly convicted of bombings in London on faulty forensic tests and circumstantial evidence . Then the Birmingham Six were shown to have been the victims of another miscarriage of British 'justice' . Now , in the most bizarre case of all , a former British Intelligence officer , who served in the North of Ireland , has claimed that he was framed for a killing he didn't commit .
British Captain John Wallace , now serving ten years for manslaughter , claims that his conviction was part of a plan to destroy his credibility because he knew too much about covert operations in Ireland - on both sides of the border . Frank Doherty talked to Wallace and to another former British Intelligence officer , Captain Fred Holroyd , who is lobbying politicians to re-open a case which is as potentially embarrassing for the British Secret Service as the Wright case in Australia has proved to be.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1986 .

Ten years ago John Colin Wallace was on top of the world : he was head of production services at British Army HQ in the North of Ireland in Lisburn , he had just married an attractive English colleague , Eileen , the confidential secretary to the Chief of the Secret Service (MI6) in Belfast and was proud to be considered an expert parachutist - he had trained as same with the SAS.

He had also been a member of the inquiry set up under British 'Lord Justice' Widgery to 'investigate' the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry in 1972. And he was still only thirty-two years of age . Today , he has a different job - in the library at Lewes Prison in Sussex , England. And his ambitions have changed : now he looks forward to getting parole in time for Christmas 1986 - and to his new task in life , clearing his name after being convicted for a crime he claims he did not commit .

Ballymena-born Colin Wallace's troubles began in 1976 , after a fierce dispute between MI6 and their rivals in the 'Security Service' (MI5), over tactics in Ireland . " It was a bitter row , " says Wallace , interviewed at Lewes Prison , " there were many casualties . I was one of them......."

(MORE LATER).

THE UNDAUNTED WOMEN IN ARMAGH.......

The full story of the republican prisoners in Armagh Jail has yet to be told. It has yet to be sung , and properly described , other than as an after-thought in public speeches - "...and of course the women in Armagh.." Republicans have a right to be proud of those women who, from the Divis Flats grandmother doing six months for what an Orange judge called "riotous behaviour" to the young IRA Volunteer inside for the second time and not yet 25-years-old , have managed, whether they numbered 12 or 120 , to maintain their resistance to the most vicious prison system in Europe. The words that follow , says writer Patricia Collins , were written to encourage more of those women to come forward and tell their story , and are based on conversations with several
ex-prisoners , and on visits and letters from those women presently imprisoned. They were written in the hope of jogging the memory of all those women who wrongly think their contribution to Ireland's future peace is not worth mentioning.
From 'IRIS' magazine , August 1984.

March 1st 1976 was the beginning of the battle of wills between republican POW's incarcerated in six-county jails and the British government : the first women to be charged under the 'new system' was Mairead Farrell from Andersonstown in West Belfast - arrested on April 5th 1976 , she was sentenced to 14 years after several months on remand , most of it spent on her own . However , Mairead was not the first to experience criminalisation .

In December 1976 , an 18-year-old girl from the Short Strand in Belfast , Brenda Murray , was sentenced to 15 years for her alleged part in the bombing of the Babalu Boutique : the 'evidence' against Brenda was so unsatisfactory that she eventually obtained a retrial and , after over two years spent in Armagh Jail , a British judge finally admitted that she could not possibly have done what another British judge sent her to prison for 15 years for !

Brenda Murray was one of many innocent young women who were put through the infamous conveyor belt of criminalisation and , like the many young men who were to fill the H-Blocks of Long Kesh, Brenda was brought to Castlereagh Interrogation Centre, threatened with further beatings and forced to sign a prepared 'confession' , imprisoned for months on remand and finally processed through a Diplock Court, where a British judge found her guilty , not because of the 'evidence' put forward but because she was from a nationalist ghetto.......

(MORE LATER).

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

SAME SHIT.....

.....DIFFERENT DAY !

Today , Tuesday 18th November 2008 , is , yet again , another "Historic Day" in the troubled annals of this wee island : the usurpers in Westminster have decreed that their newish-found rebel pets in the 'Province' can be trusted to have a bigger input into how the Occupied Six Counties is 'policed' . However , the trained pets will be keeping a close eye on the Provisionals , on behalf of Westminster , to make sure that Gerry , Martin and the rest of the Muppets don't lose the run of themselves and forget that it is in fact British 'law' that they are being 'allowed' to implement!

And this is being presented as a 'Victory' : an "Historic Day" for us Irish - when in actual fact what it is is a step further on the 'Normalisation' Road , aided and abetted , yet again, by the usual anti-republican elements in Leinster House and Westminster .
Irish Republicans will not be 'celebrating' today , nor did we celebrate on any of the previous days when similar 'historic' announcements were made : we will , however, truly celebrate when the day comes that Westminster announces her intention to finally fully withdraw , politically and militarily , from this island . Until then, we hope the muppets enjoy their false dawn.....
Sharon.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

AN ENGLISH REDCOAT -

- a 'tribute' to those 56 countries which Westminster has sent 'peace-keeping' troops to , and in memory of the six million native people murdered in those countries for resisting the 'efforts' of those 'peace-keepers' :

" I joined the Redcoats then – mo lein! – what would my father say?
And I was sent in one short year on service to Bombay.

I thought to be a pauper was the greatest human curse
But fighting in a robber’s cause I felt it ten times worse!
I helped to plunder and enslave those tribes of India’s sons
And we spent many a sultry day blowing sepoys from our guns.

I told these sins to Father Ned, the murder and the booty.
These were no sins for me, he said, I only did my “duty” ...

No sin to kill for English greed in some far foreign clime
How can it be that patriot love in Ireland is a crime ?
How can it be, by God’s decree, I’m cursed, outlawed and banned ?
Because I swore one day to free my trampled native land."
(From 'A FENIAN BALLAD' [aka 'Sweet Iveleary'] by Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa)

Remembrance of Genocide -

In Mein Kampf, Hitler stated his plans, his motivation, and the precedents for the policies which, when he implemented when achieved power with the assistance of Britain.

Extermination or genocide was the norm in the British Empire, providing Hitler with the model for his East-land colony or Lebensraum. Many British authorities and writers stated this plainly, from Edmund Spenser and Cromwell through to the twentieth century. Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke was a prominent Liberal, expected to become party leader and Prime Minister until he was scuppered by a divorce case. Here is what he said about Empire in his book Greater Britain (1894): “The Anglo-Saxon is the only extirpating race on earth. Up to the commencement of the now inevitable destruction of the red Indians, of the Maoris and of the [native] Australians, no numerous race has ever been blotted out by an invader.”

What this means was demonstrated across the British Empire which projected itself by brute force and conquest around the world. Here is what happened in Tasmania:

"In 1830 Tasmania was put under martial law, a line of armed beaters was formed across the island, and an attempt was made to drive the aborigines into a cul-de-sac." (Moorehead, The Fatal Impact.) "The final extermination [of the Tasmanians] was a large-scale event, undertaken with the co-operation of the military and judiciary. Soldiers of the Fortieth Regiment drove the natives between two great rock formations, shot all the men and dragged the women and children out of fissures in the rocks to knock their brains out." (Ziehr, Hell in Paradise.)

And here is how Hitler put it in Mein Kampf:

"We will select the best settlement areas as land for German settlement ...we will deal with the population. ...we don't need to give ourselves any pangs of conscience about this ...after all we don't think of [Red] Indians when eating Canadian wheat. ... England ... was free to ... eat its frozen mutton [from Australia] without looking too closely into how they were produced. ... One task lies ahead: Teutonisation by bringing in Germans and regarding the original inhabitants as [Red] Indians. ... We will have to have a razzia [extermination war], square kilometre by square kilometre and constantly stringing people up. This is to be a real Indian War."

A Real Indian War: The Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado, November 29, 1864:

In 1858 white settlers poured into Colorado, where the Southern Cheyenne and Arapahoe lived after they had been ethnically cleansed by the settlers from the Great Lakes area a century or so previously, in a pattern repeated over and over again across the continent.

The conquest of the Irish took about a century (late 16th to late 17th century), the conquest of the Indians started a little later (early 17th century) and took nearly three centuries to accomplish. The parallel between these two conquests was fully obvious to settlers such as the genocidal Edmund Spenser and Walter Raleigh. Cromwell’s chaplain, the Rev Hugh Peters, was familiar with both Ireland and America: "The wild Irish and the Indian doe not much differ, and therefore would be handled alike … [Rather than] spend time about Castles and Forts, [we should] burne up the Enemies provisions every where." In other words, extermination by famine, disease and scorched earth.

An element among the settlers recognised the attractions of Indian life, and a few actually became Indian. Thomas Morton’s sympathetic 1637 account of the Indians includes: "Of their Houses and Habitations: The natives of New England are accustomed to build themselves houses much like the wild Irish."

A campaign of extermination was waged against the Colorado Indians after they were falsely accused of stealing 175 cattle, after they had attempted to make peace, and after they had handed over most of their weapons. The kind of scenes described below were replicated over and over again through the centuries, in America as in Ireland.

When a junior officer, Lieutenant Cramer, protested to Colonel Chivington against his attack on an Indian band (that means families of men, women and children), Chivington said: "I have come to kill Indians, and believe that it is right and honourable to use any means under God’s heaven to kill Indians."
According to Cramer, Chivington ordered his troops to: "Kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice."

Chivington, a former Methodist minister, commanded a force of 700 soldiers against 500 Indians at Sand Creek, of whom about 100 were men of fighting age. The rest were women, children and old men.

Robert Bent, Chivington’s guide, reported:
"After the firing the warriors put the squaws and children together, and surrounded them to protect them. I saw five squaws under a bank for shelter. When the troops came up to them they ran out and showed their persons, to let the soldiers know they were squaws and begged for mercy, but the soldiers shot them all.There were some thirty or forty squaws collected in a hole for protection; they sent out a little girl about six years old with a white flag on a stick, she had not proceeded but a few steps when she was shot and killed. All the squaws in that hole were afterwards killed, and four or five bucks outside. The squaws offered no resistance. Every one I saw dead was scalped. I saw one squaw cut open with an unborn child, as I thought, lying by her side. Captain Soule afterwards told me that such was the fact .I saw quite a number of infants in arms killed with their mothers."

First Lieutenant James D. Connor, New Mexico Volunteers:
"About day break on the morning of the 29th of November we came in sight of the camp of the friendly Indians aforementioned, and were ordered by Colonel Chivington to attack the same, which was accordingly done. The command of Colonel Chivington was composed of about one thousand men; the village of the Indians consisted of from one hundred to one hundred and thirty lodges, and, as far as I am able to judge, of from five hundred to six hundred souls, the majority of which were women and children; in going over the battleground the next day I did not see a body of man, woman or child but was scalped, and in many instances their bodies were mutilated in the most horrible manner – men, women, and children’s privates cut out, etc. I heard one man say that he had cut out a woman’s private parts and had them for exhibition on a stick - according to the best of my knowledge and belief these atrocities were committed with the knowledge of J.M. Chivington, and I do not know of his taking any measures to prevent them; I heard of one instance of a child of a few months being thrown in the feed-box of a wagon, and after being carried some distance left on the ground to perish; I also heard of numerous instances in which men had cut out the private parts of females and stretched them over the saddle-boxes, and wore them over their hats while riding in the ranks. "

Lieutenant Cramer:
" We arrived at the Indian village about daylight … Colonel Chivington moved his regiment to the front, the Indians retreating up the creek, and hiding under the banks. White Antelope ran towards our columns unarmed, and with both arms raised, but was killed. Several other of the warriors were killed in like manner. The women and children were huddled together, and most of our fire was concentrated on them . The Indian warriors, about 100 in number, fought desperately; there were about 500 all told. Our force was so large that there was no necessity of firing on the Indians. They did not return the fire until after our troops had fired several rounds . I told Colonel Chivington that it would be murder in every sense of the word, if he attacked those Indians. His reply was, bringing his fist down close to my face, ‘Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians’ -he had come to kill Indians and believed it to be honourable to kill Indians under any and all circumstances."

Ashbury Bird, Company D, 1st Colorado Cavalry:
"I went over the ground soon after the battle. I should judge there were between 400 and 500 Indians killed . Nearly all, men, women, and children were scalped. I saw one woman whose privates had been mutilated."

Corporal Amos C. Miksch, 1st Colorado Cavalry, Company C:
" Next morning after the battle, I saw a little boy covered up among the Indians in a trench, still alive. I saw a major in the 3rd regiment take out his pistol and blow off the top of his head. I saw some men unjointing fingers to get rings off, and cutting off ears to get silver ornaments. I saw a party with the same Major take up bodies that had been buried in the night to scalp them and take off ornaments. I saw a squaw with her head smashed in before she was killed. Next morning, after they were dead and stiff, these men pulled out the bodies of the squaws and pulled them open in an indecent manner. I heard men say they had cut out the privates, but did not see it myself."

Sergeant Lucien Palmer, 1st Colorado Cavalry, Company C:
" The bodies were horribly cut up, skulls broken in a good many; I judge they were broken in after they were killed, as they were shot besides. I do not think I saw any but was scalped; saw fingers cut off [to get the rings off them], saw several bodies with privates cut off, women as well as men."

David Louderbeck, 1st Colorado cavalry:
" The dead bodies of women and children were afterwards mutilated in the most horrible manner. I saw only eight. I could not stand it; they were cut up too much- they were scalped and cut up in an awful manner. White Antelope’s nose, ears and privates were cut off."

John S. Smith, interpreter:
" All manner of depredations were inflicted on their persons, they were scalped, their brains knocked out; the men used their knives, ripped open women, clubbed little children, knocked them in the head with their guns, beat their brains out, mutilated their bodies in every sense of the word - worse mutilated than any I ever saw before, the women all cut to pieces , children two or three months old; all ages lying there, from sucking infants up to warriors."

In celebration, Denver Opera House strung Indian scalps across the stage during intermission, to standing applause. A few months later, in July 1865 Senator James Doolittle of Wisconsin addressed the Denver audience, and said that the choice was to put the Indians on reservations or to exterminate them. Doolittle wrote that the audience gave "...a shout almost loud enough to raise the roof of the Opera House – ‘Exterminate them! Exterminate them! Exterminate them....!"
(Doolittle’s proposal was for mere ethnic cleansing as opposed to genocide. Early photographs show the concentration camps or death camps – stockades guarded by military watchtowers – into which the Indians were sometimes herded to rot, starve and be murdered.)

Like the anti-Hitler resistance, the Indians often displayed spectacular heroism. Hitler was defeated by his intended victims in Russia within a few short years. The Indian ordeal went on for three centuries....
(By Pat Muldowney ,on this thread. )
And they dare to call us 'terrorists....'
Sharon.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

THE IRA : the new IRA is younger , more radical and has seen little of life other than violence.......
By Ed Moloney.
From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.

The IRA has so far spent most of this year (1980) killing 'soft' targets like so-called 'off-duty' UDR men and the campaign against prison warders has been halted to await the out-come of the H-Block negotiations .

But it is Charlie Haughey's tough policy and legal moves against IRA operations in the Border counties which has done more to impair the IRA in the last year than the RUC and British Army combined in the last three years . Cross-border 'co-operation' between the Garda and the RUC at regional commander and ground level combined with meticulous Free State Task Force searches of Border farms have seriously disrupted IRA logistics and produced a number of significant arms and explosives dumps .

Those tactics are described by one IRA leader as "devastating" and things could get worse for the Provos if Haughey's attempt to activate the dormant 'Criminal Law Jurisdiction Bill' for cross-border offences succeeds.......

(MORE LATER).

RESISTANCE ON ALL FRONTS.......
IRIS talks to a spokesperson authorised to speak on behalf of the Irish Republican Army.
From 'IRIS' magazine , July/August 1982.

IRIS : " If you were to specify one particular need which you consider the highest political priority for republicans at this time , what would it be ? "

IRA : " To organise support and structure it . And to ensure that opposition to British rule is not restricted to military actions but that people's opposition is channelled into resisting in whatever way they are able."

[END of 'RESISTANCE ON ALL FRONTS.......']
(NEXT : ' Black Propaganda And Bloody Murder' - from 'Magill' magazine 1986)

THE UNDAUNTED WOMEN IN ARMAGH.......

The full story of the republican prisoners in Armagh Jail has yet to be told. It has yet to be sung , and properly described , other than as an after-thought in public speeches - "...and of course the women in Armagh.." Republicans have a right to be proud of those women who, from the Divis Flats grandmother doing six months for what an Orange judge called "riotous behaviour" to the young IRA Volunteer inside for the second time and not yet 25-years-old , have managed, whether they numbered 12 or 120 , to maintain their resistance to the most vicious prison system in Europe. The words that follow , says writer Patricia Collins , were written to encourage more of those women to come forward and tell their story , and are based on conversations with several
ex-prisoners , and on visits and letters from those women presently imprisoned. They were written in the hope of jogging the memory of all those women who wrongly think their contribution to Ireland's future peace is not worth mentioning.
From 'IRIS' magazine , August 1984.

As prisoners with political status were being released , their numbers rapidly dwindled : in August 1979 there were only 7 left , a month later , 4 - the Price sisters, Chris Sheerin and Pauline Deery . The first three were eventually released on compassionate grounds for extreme ill health . As the women got fewer , the prison screws got more aggressive - " They were trying to get us to give up our political status..., " says Kate McGuinness, released in August 1979 , " ...in petty ways they were trying to take away our rights."

Pauline Deery writes - " By 1980 , education classes for republican prisoners were almost non-existent , and exercise time has also been substantially reduced from 1976 . In 1976 we could stay in the exercise yard all day but , by 1980 , it was down to two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon . In 1983 I was moved to a unit on 'B1' on my own , and my exercise time was halved . Food parcels are now strictly limited , as are handicrafts .

Political papers and film shows have been stopped and cell searches , in the absence of those occupying the cells , have been introduced , as have strip-searches . I am unable to see my brother or my fiance , who are both in Long Kesh prison, because I won't take the strip-search . A remand prisoner was charged for talking to me through her window last year , and she was locked up for it..."

(MORE LATER).

Sunday, November 09, 2008

104th Ard Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin , 8-9th November 2008.

Some pics from the opening session of the 104th Ard Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin , which is being held in a Dublin city-centre venue over this weekend , Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th November 2008. I'll have to let the pics speak for themselves as I'm trying to help organise one of these as well as doing a wee bit at the Ard Fheis . Much too busy to tell you of the large crowd present , the extra helpers needed at the Book-In table and the extra people roped-in to work the Ard Fheis shop . You'll just have to make do with these few pics for now!

The above two pics were taken within a half hour of the opening of the Ard Fheis.

'British Withdrawal' Banner .

'Eire Nua' Banner .

'Hunger Strikers' Banner.

'ILPS' Banner.

'Unbroken Continuity' Banner .

CABHAIR 2008 Swim Leaflet.

Ard Fheis Shop items.

Shop items.

Ard Fheis Shop items .

And finally...

....one of the Special Branch cars used by the State to spy on the proceedings of this Ard Fheis . That red car was parked in a side lane beneath a fire escape landing used by those stepping-out of the Ard Fheis hall for a cigarette : it is believed an on-board camera was monitoring those on the landing as they had their smoke . Also , note the absence of insurance , tax and/or NCT discs ; State cut-backs , perhaps...
That's all for now - back to the monthly raffle work for me !
Thanks,
Sharon.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

THE IRA : the new IRA is younger , more radical and has seen little of life other than violence.......
By Ed Moloney.
From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.

There have been more so-called 'security force' deaths and less civilian deaths from IRA activity than for a long time : furthermore , as the 'Criminal Damage Payments' bear testimony , the reduced level of bombings has not reduced the damage caused .

Also , the contrasting numbers of deaths of PIRA operatives compared to those in the 'security forces' show the IRA is losing less men for every death they inflict on the enemy than ever before in this campaign . In terms of enemy kills against the IRA the picture is even bleaker for the British - in 1979 and 1980 , premature explosions , not British Army or RUC bullets , killed four of the six dead IRA men , and all the figures available point to more effective activity by the IRA .

While 1978 and 1979 were 'good' years for the IRA , 1980 so far has been a 'bad' one : increased enemy undercover operations have hampered the IRA , whose leadership has admitted that five out of six operations are now aborted due to surveillance and frequent arrests and seven-day detention orders of 'middle management' IRA leaders have disrupted co-ordination and communication . One such IRA activist was told by the British Army officer who arrested him that his orders were - "Disrupt Them!" .......

(MORE LATER).

RESISTANCE ON ALL FRONTS.......
IRIS talks to a spokesperson authorised to speak on behalf of the Irish Republican Army.
From 'IRIS' magazine , July/August 1982.

IRIS : " In view of current events in the Middle East , could you reiterate your position on the Palestinian struggle ? "

IRA : " We support the PLO's right to their own country . We morally support their position and we see in the Israelis' attempt at genocide a similarity to the Nazis' attempted genocide of the Jews in the 1930's and 1940's . That is to say , there is a marked similarity between Israel's present stance and Hitler's 'final solution' . The hypocrisy of the super powers - the Reagan administration particularly - and of the EEC governments , is evident and we condemn it."

(MORE LATER).

THE UNDAUNTED WOMEN IN ARMAGH.......

The full story of the republican prisoners in Armagh Jail has yet to be told. It has yet to be sung , and properly described , other than as an after-thought in public speeches - "...and of course the women in Armagh.." Republicans have a right to be proud of those women who, from the Divis Flats grandmother doing six months for what an Orange judge called "riotous behaviour" to the young IRA Volunteer inside for the second time and not yet 25-years-old , have managed, whether they numbered 12 or 120 , to maintain their resistance to the most vicious prison system in Europe. The words that follow , says writer Patricia Collins , were written to encourage more of those women to come forward and tell their story , and are based on conversations with several
ex-prisoners , and on visits and letters from those women presently imprisoned. They were written in the hope of jogging the memory of all those women who wrongly think their contribution to Ireland's future peace is not worth mentioning.
From 'IRIS' magazine , August 1984.

Armagh Jail left its mark on the women : many were not only experiencing at first hand the repressive nature of the Orange State but also discovering the strength that lies in being united and organised , and the warmth and solidarity of the struggle .

One of the women POW's said - " Quite a few of us have now dropped off , got married , had families . But you will still see them at marches . They're still here . Of the 40 on my Prison Wing I can only think of five that disappeared from the scene completely." And some of the women were of course to experience jail again - in that same prison , but in totally different conditions .

After the last internee left in mid-1975 , between 60 and 70 sentenced republican prisoners were left in Armagh Jail . They were all moved to 'B' Wing while 'A' Wing was closed off and made ready for those prisoners coming in after March 1st 1976 - the date on which special category status was no longer applicable . One or two women had been arrested just before that date and were brought to Armagh Jail at the beginning of April 1976 : the POW's with political status fought hard to get those women in with them . Pauline Deery was one of those women , and is now the last POW to receive 'special category' status in Armagh Jail , where she is in a unit on her own in 'B1' Wing.......

(MORE LATER).

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Sinn Féin Poblachtach 104ú Ard Fheis 2008.

This blog would like to extend congratulations to the Republican Sinn Fein organisation on its 104th Ard Fheis , which will be held on the weekend of Saturday 8th November and Sunday 9th November 2008, in a Dublin venue , which is itself celebrating 163 years in business: as we ourselves know , from past experience, a virulent gauntlet of those representing this corrupt Statelet has to be breached - quite forcibly , on occasion - by not only those attending the event , but also by those entering the venue (hotel) on unrelated business . And this year will , no doubt , be the same in that regard as any of the 103 such gatherings which precede it , and will , no doubt , completely fail to deter the Republicans gathered there from doing the same next year !

The system of partition government in Ireland has been maintained since 1922, and since 1973 under the growing influence of the EU. It is an inescapable fact, on the supreme test of results, that this system has failed. It is time to think of radical change.
It is that radical change which the State goons , and those that pay them , fear so much...
Ni seoinini sinn go leir!
Sharon.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

THE IRA : the new IRA is younger , more radical and has seen little of life other than violence.......
By Ed Moloney.
From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.

In East Tyrone the IRA has had mixed results in its level of attacks : 22 bombing attacks in 1977 and 9 gun attacks , in 1978 there was a rise to 36 bombings and a fall to 7 gun attacks and in 1979 there was a drop to 18 bombings but a rise to 13 shootings aimed at the British 'security forces' .

South Armagh IRA units on the other hand display all the characteristics of classic guerrilla fighters ; very few incidents occur in South Armagh compared to areas like Belfast but those that are carried out have been devastatingly effective . In 1977 there were only 5 bombings and 7 shootings directed at the Brits , a low level of activity that was caused by increased SAS activity in the area . In 1978 there was a rise to 15 bombings and 5 shootings and again the same the following year . This year so far (1980) is following that pattern with 6 bombings and 3 ambushes to date .

Between 1977 and 1980 so far , the IRA in those three areas killed 173 people of the 230 total killed by the IRA in the North , including businessmen , civilians , British soldiers , RUC men , UDR men , ex-UDR men and prison warders . Belfast IRA cells incidentally were responsible for the highest number of businessmen killed , 6 out of 7 ; the highest number of civilians killed , 30 out of 49 and the most prison warders , 11 out of 15 . South Armagh clearly concentrates on the British Army - its IRA units killed 36 of the 68 British soldiers killed by the IRA during those years . The other five areas of IRA activity are quiescent by comparison . Derry and South Derry are virtually at peace and South Down , Fermanagh and North Armagh very quiet . However , the statistics do not tell the full story.......

(MORE LATER).

RESISTANCE ON ALL FRONTS.......
IRIS talks to a spokesperson authorised to speak on behalf of the Irish Republican Army.
From 'IRIS' magazine , July/August 1982.

IRIS : " The H-Block/Armagh campaign marked a departure for republicans from earlier strategies in that a broad front tactic was experimented with . What would be your attitude to future broad fronts ? "

IRA : " Obviously the mass mobilisation of a considerable section of nationalists opinion behind the hunger-strikers' demands was a welcome development . We welcome any involvement of people in opposition to any aspect of British and neo-colonial rule .

It is difficult to say with certainty how such an involvement could be structured and formalised , and whether given the reality of the effects of partition a mass mobilisation would be feasible at this time . However , we view with approval the discussions taking place between Sinn Fein and other anti-imperialist groups . It would be wrong for us to pre-empt any conclusions to these discussions . "

(MORE LATER).

THE UNDAUNTED WOMEN IN ARMAGH.......

The full story of the republican prisoners in Armagh Jail has yet to be told. It has yet to be sung , and properly described , other than as an after-thought in public speeches - "...and of course the women in Armagh.." Republicans have a right to be proud of those women who, from the Divis Flats grandmother doing six months for what an Orange judge called "riotous behaviour" to the young IRA Volunteer inside for the second time and not yet 25-years-old , have managed, whether they numbered 12 or 120 , to maintain their resistance to the most vicious prison system in Europe. The words that follow , says writer Patricia Collins , were written to encourage more of those women to come forward and tell their story , and are based on conversations with several
ex-prisoners , and on visits and letters from those women presently imprisoned. They were written in the hope of jogging the memory of all those women who wrongly think their contribution to Ireland's future peace is not worth mentioning.
From 'IRIS' magazine , August 1984.

In March 1973 , seven men and three women , including Marion and Dolours Price, had been charged in London with the Old Bailey and Whitehall bombings . After being sentenced to life imprisonment the Price sisters embarked on a hunger-strike for repatriation . Their hunger-strike was to last 206 days , during which they were force-fed in horrific conditions . In support of the Price sisters the women in Armagh Jail started having a token 24-hour hunger-strike every Friday . Those prisoners on remand would also use the opportunity of court appearances to make speeches from the dock about their comrades on hunger-strike .

The Price sisters were finally transferred to Armagh Jail on March 18th 1975 - their transfer had been announced much sooner and the Armagh women prisoners didn't expect them on that day . As Teresa Holland put it - " We had been practising for weeks , with flags , uniforms , the lot , and they hadn't come . And then suddenly there they were ! So we got out the flags and the uniforms and had another parade just for them . They were lost , they couldn't believe their eyes . Everybody felt brilliant and , for a full week , every time they went into someone's cell , the girl in that cell would make them a big feed . It actually took them a long time to settle in , with all the fuss!"

During those two years , from 1973 to 1975 , the women POW's had almost full control of the jail : their numbers had risen above the 120 mark and , even though they came from all corners of the Six Counties and from all age groups , some were grandmothers and some were teenagers - indeed , in one instance , mother and daughter were interned together - most of them came from the nationalist ghettoes of Belfast and were aged between 18 and 24 and were single women . Most were inside for the first time.......

(MORE LATER).

Friday, October 24, 2008

Irish Hedge School : 'Back to the Future' for our children...?

"....."The Irish who could afford the Hedgemaster's fee sent their children to Hedge Schools where Gaelic brehons, storytellers and musicians secretly taught Irish history, tradition, and told tales of the Irish children's ancestry. Popular history places these schools under ruined walls or in dry ditches by the roadside. Some lessons, no doubt, were taught in the shadow of a hedge while others were taught in barns...."
(From here)

The 14th October 2008 State budget was not only an attempt by millionaire politicians to prematurely end the lives of the elderly people in this State (who fought back and intend to do so again in the coming weeks) but was also used as an opportunity by those moral renegades in Leinster House to 'have a go' at what they apparently view as 'another load of wasters' : those seeking an education .
Not only did the State increase the costs it charges for 'State Examinations' , it stated that there would be no increase in 2009 in Maintenance Grants that are sometimes available for students. The politicians increased registration fees for Colleges from €900 to €1,500 , reduced the already poor school building programme and , beginning in January 2009 , have decreed that the position of 'sub teacher' will no longer exist . The fund from which resource teachers applied to for money for equipment has been abolished - including the grants for 'Home Economics' classes - and funds previously allocated to 'Early Childcare Centres' are now not available at all , having been abolished by 'Government Decree' .
Altogether at least 30 major cutbacks to the manner in which our children are educated in this State will be enacted in the coming weeks and months ; but none of those cutbacks will be accepted without a fight!
Teachers , their representative organisations , parents and pupils themselves will be taking to the streets in a massive protest - the first of many , if necessary - which will be held on Wednesday 29th October 2008 at 6.30pm outside Leinster House : more details here.
The unproductive political wasters in Leinster House must be stood-up to on this issue : the alternative is to go back to "...the hedge and the barns.." - WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 29 , 2008 , LEINSTER HOUSE , 6.30PM . For the sake of your children....
Sharon.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

"Shame on those in Leinster House....." : a 'retain-the-medical-card' protester outside 'anti-medical-card'-Leinster House today (Wednesday 22 October 2008) objecting to the attempted political State mugging of old age pensioners by Fianna Fail , the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats .

"It often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an inarticulate manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of style."
(Oscar Wilde)
Inarticulate , crude , incoherent , absurd and styleless: all of those words , when combined , describe not only the manner in which the unprincipled Fat Cats in Leinster House attempted to condemn our elderly to an early grave by withdrawing their medical cards but also describe the 'qualities' required to 'progress' through the corrupt political system in this morally-twisted State . But ,in this instance - thankfully - the actions of those suited and pensioned political wasters was a bridge too far for respectable people to ignore :

: From the entry gates of Leinster House and to the very last few inches of the street facing those gates - Molesworth Street - and from the St Stephen's Green-top of Kildare Street to the Nassau Street junction at the bottom of Kildare Street stood at least 20,000 medical card holders - most of them between 50 and 70 years young - carrying placards and banners in protest against the on-going attempted removal of their medical cards by the State Administration . Republican Sinn Fein members and supporters arrived outside Leinster House at 11am to add their numbers to those objecting to this act of thievery and were almost immediately approached by uniformed Garda members and told that they would be removed from where they were at about 12 Noon and would be "placed" across the street in Molesworth Street . When this notification was challenged , the RSF people were told that all protesters were going to be moved across to Molesworth Street (a 'side-street' when compared with Kildare Street) in order that 'the main thoroughfare be kept open' . The RSF people replied that they would be staying where they were : in the event the cops backed-down , due no doubt to the fact that , by 12 Noon , there were between at least five and ten thousand protesters blocking the road itself and standing on the footpaths on both sides of the street!
The cops wisely decided to take themselves off-side and dispersed to the far-flung corners of the immediate area to concentrate on traffic management....

Getting ready to make our presence felt...

Medical card protesters blocking the entry/exit gates to Leinster House.

"No votes here for Harney or Lenihan! "

"PD's , FF and the Greens ? No thanks!"

Two of the RSF pro-medical card protesters in the crowd outside Leinster House.

Three of the armed Special Branch members on the rooftops of surrounding buildings : just making sure that those pesky 'Dissident Pensioners' don't offer too much of a 'threat' to the security of the State...

Finally : RSF maintained a presence today outside Leinster House from 11am to 2pm : on our way out of the area we 'bumped' into about 20,000 student protesters who were making their way to Leinster House to protest against the proposed manner which those fumbling political mongrels in Leinster House wish to financially and spiritually debase them . The 1169 Team sends its heartiest congratulations and best wishes to those young protesters and to those 'over 21's' who were just breaking-up as the young 'uns were arriving . We all of us - a combined total of between 30,000 and 40,000 people - can't be wrong . The millionaire inmates of Leinster House should save us the bother of having to protest against them again and simply abolish themselves . They all have fat pensions they can live quite comfortably on...
Sharon.

THE IRA : the new IRA is younger , more radical and has seen little of life other than violence.......
By Ed Moloney.
From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.

In late 1978 however the IRA devised a new method of producing home made explosives : their engineers discovered that if ordinary fertiliser was 'cooked' in water , the resulting crystals produced after the 'dirty' water had been skimmed off made high quality explosive when mixed with metal fillings , usually aluminium , and diesel or carbon .

The explosive produced is detonated by a pound or two of commercial explosives and can , as the radio bombs have proved , be enormously effective . Its drawback is that it stinks to high heaven and is very unstable and , as a result , it is usually only 'made to order' in two stills which the British Army thinks the IRA has stashed in deep woodland across the Border . While the IRA has , thanks to that sort of ingenuity and the re-organisation of its structures , made a considerable comeback since 1977 , the organisation and its campaign of military opposition has at the same time been limited effectively to three of its eight operational areas .

Those three areas are Belfast , South Armagh and East Tyrone . Even so , the level of activity in those areas has declined - in Belfast , for instance , there were 109 bombing attacks and 51 ambushes and gun attacks on the RUC , British Army or other so-called 'security force' personnel during 1977 , whereas in 1978 that had declined to 101 bombings and 29 shootings and in 1979 to only 39 bombing attacks and 20 gun attacks . This year (1980) seems to be keeping in line with that , at 13 bombings and 11 gun attacks so far . In East Tyrone and South Armagh the IRA has had mixed results in its military campaign against the forces of Westminster.......
(MORE LATER).

RESISTANCE ON ALL FRONTS.......
IRIS talks to a spokesperson authorised to speak on behalf of the Irish Republican Army.
From 'IRIS' magazine , July/August 1982.

IRIS: "In the wake of the hunger-strike , and faced with the electoral and general political challenge for the Republican Movement , how do you view the future for the SDLP ? "

IRA: "The SDLP is a middle-class 'Castle Catholic' establishment party . In the absence of any electoral involvement by republicans it was able to masquerade as the political voice of the nationalist people , clouding the class divisions which exist within the nationalist camp . Electoral involvement by republicans has shattered that myth and , although the task will be a necessarily hard one , continued involvement in that process by republicans will place the SDLP in their true light , and they will be seen increasingly as being supportive of the British presence in Ireland. "
(MORE LATER).

THE UNDAUNTED WOMEN IN ARMAGH.......

The full story of the republican prisoners in Armagh Jail has yet to be told. It has yet to be sung , and properly described , other than as an after-thought in public speeches - "...and of course the women in Armagh.." Republicans have a right to be proud of those women who, from the Divis Flats grandmother doing six months for what an Orange judge called "riotous behaviour" to the young IRA Volunteer inside for the second time and not yet 25-years-old , have managed, whether they numbered 12 or 120 , to maintain their resistance to the most vicious prison system in Europe. The words that follow , says writer Patricia Collins , were written to encourage more of those women to come forward and tell their story , and are based on conversations with several
ex-prisoners , and on visits and letters from those women presently imprisoned. They were written in the hope of jogging the memory of all those women who wrongly think their contribution to Ireland's future peace is not worth mentioning.
From 'IRIS' magazine , August 1984.

The women POW's decided to barricade themselves in the 'B3' wing of Armagh Prison , using dismantled cell doors . By some fluke , while all this was going on , the Prison Governor , Cunningham , his deputy , Simpson , and two Screws happened to come up to the Wing and the women bundled them up , threw them into an empty cell and locked them in with their own keys . The loyalist prisoners came along , thinking at first that the loyalist compounds had been burnt too . Having later been told otherwise , they nevertheless sat the protest out with the republicans .

The women prisoners had drawn big slogans on bedsheets , reading - 'The Armagh women support the men in Long Kesh - give them their demands' , and hung their 'banners' from the cell windows where they could be seen from the surrounding streets . By the evening , the 'kidnapping' of the Armagh Prison governor by the women POW's was big news : journalists congregated outside the jail and shouted questions across to the barricaded women , who replied by shouting back to them . The Screws turned off the water and the electricity , and armed British soldiers in riot gear started to move into position arond the complex .

The stalemate lasted until the early hours of Thursday 17th October 1974 , when the prison chaplain , Fr Raymond Murray, brought the women an assurance from British 'Direct-Ruler' Merlyn Rees that the men in Long Kesh were safe and that no action would be taken against the women involved in the protest. The women prisoners had by then achieved their objective which was to highlight the plight of the men . The media presence had ensured huge coverage of the issue and the women ended their protest .
(MORE LATER).

Monday, October 20, 2008

On the right of our pic is the State Minister responsible for the 14th October 2008 Budget , Brian Lenihan . On the left of the pic is a high-ranking cop , helping Brian to use Google to find the meaning of the word 'Patriotism'.....

So : you want to punish old people for being old ? For being 'a burden on the State' ? For no longer earning a wage that you can stop tax on ?
And you think that ordinary taxpayers (and those old people that no longer earn a wage that you can tax) were getting too much of a 'bargain' by only paying €66 whenever they had to avail of the 'services' offered at their local A+E so you increase that amount to €100 a visit? Guess what - you're a "patriot" !!
Yes , indeed : in the moral vacuum that the likes of Brian Lenihan exists in - at someone else's expense , naturally - to 'aspire' to and actually introduce the above as 'law' is answering , in his own words - "...no less than a call to patriotic action."
Seriously! That is precisely what that piece of pond scum garbage stated in his 'Budget 2008 Introduction Speech' in Leinster House on Tuesday 14th October 2008- see here for the actual transcript : his "patriotic" comment is on the second-last line : read it all , if you have a strong stomach , or just skip to the 'its-your-patriotic-duty-to-kill-the-old'-part of this morons speech down at the end of his comments. And to think that representatives from Fianna Fail , The Greens and the Progressive Democrats gave him a five-minute standing ovation for his Declaration Of War on pensioners . Sick or what ?
Please help us in the fight to retain some dignity for our aged relatives . Take to the streets with us on Wednesday 22nd October 2008.
Sharon.

Friday, October 17, 2008

PROTEST OUTSIDE LEINSTER HOUSE OVER MEDICAL CARD CHANGES....

"The over-70s medical card plays a key role in helping many older people remain living in their own homes. The guaranteed access it provided for holders to a GP meant that their health and well being is monitored and protected at community level, thereby taking pressure off the acute hospitals and nursing homes.To reintroduce the means test flies in the face of the current push towards community care and the drive to keep older people out of hospitals and nursing homes. It will not result in any reduction in illness among older people but ensure that by the time they came to doctors surgeries that their illnesses would be more advanced.
There are currently more than 420,000 people aged 70 or over living in the 26 County State....."
(From here.)

"In the budget this week the government decided to scrap automatic medical cards for over 70s...some GPs charge €60 a visit never mind prescriptions or other medicines like say the flu vaccine, which cost my girlfriend €35 during a recent visit to her GP. So imagine if you were 70 years old retired, trying to scrape together enough money to buy food, pay the increased ESB and gas bills, then save a little money to buy Christmas presents for the grand kids and not doing anything fancy like foreign holidays. Just gettin by in Ireland today. €95 would be a good chunk out of your weekly income of say €241 which would put you over the limits...."
(From here.)

The 'Irish Senior Citizens Parliament' will be holding a one-hour lunch-time protest rally outside Leinster House , Kildare Street , Dublin, on Wednesday 22nd October 2008 beginning at 12.30pm to show their objection at the unjust withdrawal of medical cards for those aged over 70 : the greedy , callous and unproductive bastards that 'work' in that institution will not themselves be affected by any of the cut-backs they impose as they are well-insulated , financially , from the effects of their own actions. We hope the sons , daughters and extended families of those elderly people will storm that filthy institution and destroy it from within whilst their aged relatives are protesting as best they can outside - every man and woman inside that premises should be made pay , physically , for attempting to punish old people for the financial and moral blunders that the well-suited leeches themselves are responsible for...
Sharon.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

THE IRA : the new IRA is younger , more radical and has seen little of life other than violence.......
By Ed Moloney.
From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.

Methods of attack have also varied : blast incendiaries were introduced in 1977 until the holocaust of La Mon when they were temporarily dropped . Car bombs have made a recent comeback but so far only in rural towns . Intruder detonated bombs and long-delay fused bombs were introduced during that period but while these and other more well known devices like culvert bombs and landmines accounted for heavy security forces' casualties it was the introduction of the radio-detonated bomb in 1978 but especially in 1979 that really re-imposed the IRA's threat .

In 1978 radio bombs were tried out in various areas of the North of Ireland but only one member of the 'security forces' was killed by one . In 1979 however radio bombs accounted for no less than 29 of the 86 deaths meted out by the IRA and this year (1980) they have killed 6 out of 30 . The radio bomb was also used in two of the IRA's most traumatic deeds of the last ten years : the killing of 18 British soldiers at Warrenpoint and the assassination of 'Lord' Mountbatten and his boating party in August 1979 .

The development of the radio bomb , like the unsuccessful attempt to mortar Newry RUC station , also demonstrate another worrying factor for the RUC and the British Army - the IRA's technical ingenuity , which has been amply demonstrated by their use of huge quantities of explosives not only in radio bombs but also in car bombs and landmines since 1978 . Bombs of 1000 or 2000 pounds are now quite common . In 1977 and 1978 the IRA was forced to experiment with new ways of producing explosives : legislation in the South had outlawed the sale of fertiliser containing benzine which together with sugar went to produce the terrifying blockbuster car bombs of the early 1970's - and they virtually disappeared as a result . But in late 1978 the technical ingenuity of the IRA was called on again to address this problem.......

(MORE LATER).

RESISTANCE ON ALL FRONTS.......
IRIS talks to a spokesperson authorised to speak on behalf of the Irish Republican Army.
From 'IRIS' magazine , July/August 1982.

IRIS - " It seems probable , despite all the delays , that Jim Prior's assembly elections will take place this autumn . What is your understanding of the assembly's future ? "

IRA - " There's so much opposition to it that we don't see it working . We have nevertheless taken a conscious decision to support Sinn Fein's involvement in the election , which is on an abstentionist basis in that they won't take seats if elected . Whatever political scenario the British impose , the republican response will remain the same. "

(MORE LATER).

THE UNDAUNTED WOMEN IN ARMAGH.......

The full story of the republican prisoners in Armagh Jail has yet to be told. It has yet to be sung , and properly described , other than as an after-thought in public speeches - "...and of course the women in Armagh.." Republicans have a right to be proud of those women who, from the Divis Flats grandmother doing six months for what an Orange judge called "riotous behaviour" to the young IRA Volunteer inside for the second time and not yet 25-years-old , have managed, whether they numbered 12 or 120 , to maintain their resistance to the most vicious prison system in Europe. The words that follow , says writer Patricia Collins , were written to encourage more of those women to come forward and tell their story , and are based on conversations with several
ex-prisoners , and on visits and letters from those women presently imprisoned. They were written in the hope of jogging the memory of all those women who wrongly think their contribution to Ireland's future peace is not worth mentioning.
From 'IRIS' magazine , August 1984.

While the women POW's had Armagh Jail well in control , their male comrades in Long Kesh were regularly being attacked by the Brits stationed around the camp , constantly subjected to searches , and their privileges gradually eroded .

Tension had been mounting throughout the summer of 1974 in the compounds of Long Kesh : on Tuesday night , 15th October 1974 , republican POW's burned their huts in protest at the inhuman conditions they were forced to endure and were savagely attacked by Brit soldiers in full riot gear . At dawn on Wednesday 16th a statement was read on the radio by a British official announcing the burning of the camp and stating that all privileges and visits had been suspended .

A lot of women heard that radio broadcast but were not surprised - news like that was expected . Most , if not all , of the women POW's in Armagh had brothers , fathers or boyfriends in Long Kesh and were frightened with anguish over the events . On that Wednesday morning (16th October 1974) the Armagh prison administration refused the women's request for a Sinn Fein spokesperson to come in and give them updates regarding their loved ones . One of those women POW's , Kate McGuinness , said - " We had a Company meeting and decided that we should organise a riot and cause as much damage as possible to the jail." That riot was to lead to the forced imprisonment of four prison officials.......

(MORE LATER).

Monday, October 13, 2008

Republican Sinn Féin placard used on the 'Health Protest' march in Dublin on Saturday 11th October 2008.

First things first : apologises for the delay in publishing this post - we had one of these to organise on the same weekend as the above-mentioned health march (which , incidentally , we managed to do , very successfully!) and we had technical trouble with our digital collection of photographs from the protest march , resulting in our having only the following two pics available for posting -

Black flag symbolises the 'death' of the State 'Health Service' .

RSF protestors at the Parnell Monument in Dublin's O'Connell Street , Saturday 11th October 2008.

This traffic camera photo shows some of the crowd , as does this video .
Between 3,000 and 5,000 people took part in the trade union-organised protest march , at which RSF members were present from 12.30pm onwards , having taken-up position at the Parnell Monument at that time. The protest was deemed to be a success by the organisers and gave ordinary people an opportunity to voice their objection to the manner in which the millionaire politicians in Leinster House are purposely down-grading the health service that we tax-payers pay for in favour of a 'Private' system which only they and their type can afford and will , indeed, financially benefit from in the long run , at the expense of those of us lucky enough to have a poorly-paid job in the first place . Republican Sinn Féin will be out on the streets again over this issue whenever and wherever the opportunity arises...
Sharon.