BRITISH OCCUPATION AND THE LONDON ‘TIMES’ …….
From ‘The United Irishman’ newspaper, January 1958 .

On December 12th , 1957 , ‘The Irish Independent’ newspaper reported - ” Early yesterday morning a jeep-load of British soldiers accompanied by a member of the RUC crossed the border into the republic at Tyholland Frontier Post on the Monaghan-Armagh road . They were part of a Six-County ‘police patrol’ operating along the Armagh-Monaghan border . Mr. M. Crowley , the Customs Officer on the republic side , thought at first that the patrol had lost its way and allowed it to return to the Six Counties unchallenged . A few minutes later , however , the same vehicle again crossed the border into the republic , but this time Mr. Crowley stood in the centre of the road and forced the patrol to stop .

He informed the N.C.O. in charge that they were invading republic territory and that the vehicle and arms were liable to seizure . He then told the RUC man that he should have been aware of the patrol’s position . The RUC man left the jeep and returned on foot to the Six Counties . Mr Crowley telephoned his Chief at Clones , Monaghan , and telephoned Garda Superintendent Collins , also stationed in Monaghan . When the Gardai arrived a few minutes later , the British soldiers had returned to the Six Counties . The matter was immediately reported to the Revenue Commissioners who referred it to the Department of External Affairs . A number of people who were passing the Customs Post at the time saw what happened .”

A jeep-load of British troops to ‘reinforce’ one RUC ‘guide’ !

Another article in ‘The London Times’ , entitled ‘ Actors In The Political Scene’ , exposed the links between “…the country families and the Captains of Industry…….”
(MORE LATER).

A PORTRAIT OF IRELAND , by Saoránach…….
First published in the Republican Bulletin - Iris Na Poblachta , November 1986.

Dr Mary Kelly wrote - ” Four frames were used which can be summarised briefly , if rather grossly , as follows : a republican frame , highlighted in some of the representations of the IRA in ‘The Irish News’newspaper and to a lesser extent in ‘The Irish Press’ newspaper. This overlapped with the committed ‘men of violence’ frame highlighted in some of ‘The Irish Times’ coverage , but particularly in that of ‘The Irish Independent’newspaper.

This frame again veered towards the ‘terrorist’ frame , central in ‘The News Letter’, ‘The Belfast Telegraph’ and ‘The Times’(London) which overlapped with the ‘animals/scum’ frame which characterised some of the reports in ‘The Mirror’ and ‘The Express’. “

The understanding that people in the 26 Counties have of events north of the border is confused and ambivalent . Mary Kelly continued on to talk about that confusion and ambivalence , and mentioned Conor Cruise O’Brien in relation to same…….
(MORE LATER).

ROBERT EMMET - THE DARLING OF ERIN…….
Margaret McKearney looks at the life and death of one of Ireland’s most enduring heroes.
From ‘Fourthwrite’ magazine, Autumn 2003.

Arms depots were established in Dublin for the manufacture and storage of weapons for the incipient rising . Former soldiers mixed their practical skills with the scientific knowledge that Robert Emmet had acquired on the continent , and an innovative rocket device was produced .

Elaborate plans were drawn up to take the city and in particular Dublin Castle: supporters from the surrounding counties of Kildare , Wicklow and even Wexford were pledged to assist . Emmet bided his time waiting for an opportune moment when English troops would be withdrawn to serve in the renewed war in France , but his hand was forced when a premature explosion on the evening of July 16 , 1803 , at the Patrick Street depot, caused the death of John Keenan .

Though there was no obvious wide scale search or arrest operation by the British following the explosion , the leadership of the movement decided to set July 23 , 1803 (the following Saturday) as the date for the rising . Emmet hoped that success in Dublin would inspire other counties to follow suit . Patrick M. Geoghegan, in a recent publication , says that “…the plan for taking Dublin was breathtaking in its precision and audacity . It was nothing less that a blueprint for a dramatic coup d’état . Indeed , over a century later , Pearse and Clarke would also refer to the plan for their own rising…”

Emmet’s plan depended on two factors - arms and men . As Geoghegan states , when the time came , Robert Emmet had not enough of either…….
(MORE LATER).

BOOT-BOYS FOR THE ‘UNION’ …..

Former British soldier gets 3 years’ jail for urinating on dying woman.

‘A man who urinated on a disabled woman and sprayed her with shaving foam as she lay dying in the street was jailed for three years yesterday.
Anthony Anderson, 27, Hartlepool, was sentenced for outraging public decency when he degraded 50-year-old Christine Lakinski, who had collapsed in July this year.
Teesside Crown Court heard how Anderson, a former soldier, was celebrating his 27th birthday on the day he degraded his victim. She had been visiting friends and was walking home with some laminate flooring when she collapsed, striking her head as she fell.
She was spotted by a girlfriend of one of Anderson’s friends and a group gathered around her body. Anderson kicked her on the foot, then poured a bowl of water over her prone body, but she did not respond. Anderson then told his friends he was going to urinate on the woman as one of them filmed it on his mobile phone. In an ordeal lasting around 30 minutes Anderson also used shaving foam from a can to further degrade his victim.
Outside court, Ms Lakinski’s family read a statement, which said: “We would like to thank the judge for his decision to jail Anthony Anderson.
We hope that prison will give him time to reflect on his disgusting actions as well as the opportunity to look at his conscience.
We remain totally shocked that anyone could behave in such an appalling way.”

Anderson was with his friends Scott Clement and Simon Whitehead when the humiliation took place, the court heard. The group left her motionless on the pavement and no-one thought to ring an ambulance until they had got ready to go nightclubbing, some 20 minutes later. Paramedics arrived about an hour after she collapsed, and found no sign of life. A postmortem revealed she died from pancreatic failure. Police traced the 999 call to Mr Clement and Anderson was arrested that night in a nightclub.’
(From here.)

A not unusual example of the calibre and mentality of British ‘peace-keepers’ that have ’served their country’ , and not only on these shores . Not only are they unfit for any other job , but they are unfit to belong to the human race. May that poor woman Rest In Peace .

BRITISH OCCUPATION AND THE LONDON ‘TIMES’ …….
From ‘The United Irishman’ newspaper, January 1958 .

A ‘division’ was indeed reached , we say , to meet the realities of the British Imperial situation - not the Irish one . And while it is true that this division was accepted in Dublin (by the British-established Free State Government) , in Belfast (by the British-established Stormont Government) and in London (by the British Imperial Government which contrived the whole thing) , it was never accepted by the Irish people .

‘The Times’ newspaper says that Mr de Valera and his government have “…happily..” accepted Partition which “…will survive , so far as can be seen , into the indefinite future..” ‘The Times’ has been more noted for wishful thinking than prophecy in regard to Irish affairs . The only hope for peace in Occupied Ireland , says ‘The Times’ , lies in the suppression of Republican Militants . The British Army of Occupation is dismissed with this reference -

” The British soldiers are rightly available to reinforce police and auxilaries , if and when occasion arises . “ The ‘occasion’ must arise pretty often for , three days later , ‘The Irish Independent’ newspaper (December 12 , 1957) reported the following…….
(MORE LATER).

A PORTRAIT OF IRELAND , by Saoránach…….
First published in the Republican Bulletin - Iris Na Poblachta , November 1986.

For those who have the time and inclination to study some of the problems and take stock of our situation , I recommend a recent book called ‘Ireland : A Sociological Profile’, published by the Institute of Public Administration and the Sociological Association of Ireland.

Here in over 400 pages are 19 different papers on various aspects of Irish life today , written by a team of sociologists . The editors claim that it “…addresses key aspects of institutions and structures in both parts of Ireland.. ” (sic) and gives “…a distinctive , if not complete , portrait of Irish society .” This book , it must be stressed , does not offer solutions , but tells us what we are , warts and all . The proposal of solutions is not the sociologist’s job , in academic terms anyhow . But for those who would like to take stock of Irish society in 1986 , prior to making plans and devising policies , this is as good and as up-to-date an account of our society as one is likely to get .

Most of our readers would be interested in the chapter called ‘Power Control and Media Coverage of the Northern Ireland Conflict’, by Mary Kelly of the Department of Sociology in University College ,Dublin. Her paper is based on painstaking research of the media over several years , and she shares her analysis with us . Dr Kelly distinguishes , for instance , four frames in which IRA activity in the Six Counties is reported . It is basically a matter of the terminology used , as can be seen by the following sample…….
(MORE LATER).

ROBERT EMMET - THE DARLING OF ERIN…….
Margaret McKearney looks at the life and death of one of Ireland’s most enduring heroes.
From ‘Fourthwrite’ magazine, Autumn 2003.

Following the signing of the Peace of Amiens by France and England in March 1802 the United Irishmen that were being held as prisoners in Fort George were released and many such as Thomas Russell and Thomas Addis Emmet made there way to Paris . Emmet returned to Ireland in October 1802 and began to plan for a rising . On March 1803 , at a meeting in Corbet’s Hotel , 105 Capel Street , Dublin , Emmet briefed his key organisers .

In April 1803 Emmet rented an isolated house in Butterfield Lane in Rathfarnham as a new base of operations and Michael Dwyer, a 1798 veteran , suggested his young niece as a suitable candidate to play the role of the ‘housekeeper’ .

Born in or around the year 1778 , Ann Devlin soon became Robert Emmet’s trusted helper and served him loyally in the months ahead . Shortly afterwards he leased a premises at Marshalsea Lane, off Thomas Street, Dublin, and set up an arms depot there…….
(MORE LATER).

A CALLOUS SELF-SERVING CAREERIST .
Due to his recent salary increase, Bertie Ahern now ‘earns’ (…is paid..) €1291 a day !
This is the same bumbling half-wit that recently found himself being ‘investigated’ by the very Tribunal that he and his equally morally corrupt colleagues in Leinster House were forced (by public opinion) to establish : the same Bertie Ahern that co-signed most of the 1,615 cheques drawn on the Fianna Fail leaders allowance account from 1984 to 1992 (… better known as ‘The Haughey Years’..) : the man who , when asked in September 2006 about political appointments to State Boards replied - ” I might have appointed somebody but I appointed them because they were friends , not because of anything they had given me . ” : the same political and moral degenerate who stood in front of the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis in April 1997 and pledged - ” No-one , no-one , is welcome in this party if they betray the public trust . I say this and I mean this with every fibre of my being. ”
Obviously , his ‘being’ lacks ‘fibre’. As Oscar Wilde put it - ” Society sooner or later must return to its lost leader , the cultured and fascinating liar.” But , in this case - without the ‘cultured’ bit…

BRITISH OCCUPATION AND THE LONDON ‘TIMES’ …….
From ‘The United Irishman’ newspaper, January 1958 .

The ‘London Times’ newspaper has learned little Irish history since the Pigott Forgeries, but that little doesn’t stop it pontificating on our problems . What it doesn’t know it invents . Here is the imperial line on the Irish Question , and Messers. de Valera and Costello might take note : the border is not a creation of the British Government , according to the ‘Special Correspondent’ who wrote the article ‘Thirty Years After Partition’ for the special supplement . That ‘Correspondent’ exlains -

” Charges and counter-charges have been launched . But the basic position is perfectly clear . A division was reached - and accepted in Dublin , in Belfast and in London - to meet so far as was practical the realities of a difficult situation . This situation , as has been shown , was not of Northern nor of British making . “

The basic position may be ‘perfectly clear’ to The Times and its readers (’the best quality people in England’ , according to its own advertisements…) but it is also , amazingly enough , perfectly clear to the Irish people . Our conclusions in regard to this “basic position” differ more than somewhat…….
(MORE LATER).

A PORTRAIT OF IRELAND , by Saoránach.
First published in the Republican Bulletin - Iris Na Poblachta , November 1986.

The Ireland of 1986 is beset by many social problems . Most of us are aware of this . We know there is material and cultural deprivation and that unemployment is at record levels , both North and South .

Our society seems to drift along , leaderless . The problems are now so great that only radical change will solve them . Those who look to the British , Loyalist and 26-County establishments in Ireland for positive and honest national leadership will look in vain . To take one example - it is sad indeed to see sincere Gaeilgeoirí (ie ‘Irish speakers’) going to the 26-County Minister for Education , Mr Patrick Cooney, to ask him to take action to halt the alarming decline in the Irish language in our schools . Ná bí ag caint !

Those who would wish to change a lot of things in Irish society cannot plan a way ahead without first taking a hard look and making a realistic assessment of how and where we are now and how we got here . Never was the need for a radical alternative more necessary than today…….
(MORE LATER).

ROBERT EMMET - THE DARLING OF ERIN…….
Margaret McKearney looks at the life and death of one of Ireland’s most enduring heroes.
From ‘Fourthwrite’ magazine, Autumn 2003.

There were four branches of the United Irishmen in TCD and Robert Emmet was secretary of one of them . However , after an inquisition , presided over by Lord Chancellor Fitzgibbon, Emmet became one of nineteen students who were expelled for United Irishmen activity .

Although not active in the 1798 Rising, Robert Emmet was well known to the authorities and by April 1799 , when Habeas Corpus had been suspended , there was a warrant issued for his arrest , which he managed to evade and , early in 1801 , accompanied by a Mr Malachy Delany of Cork , he travelled throughout Europe , and made Paris his headquarters - it was there that he replaced Edward Lewis as the liaison officer between Irish and French Republicans .

While in Paris , Emmet learned about rockets and weapons , and studied a two-volume treatise by a Colonel Tempelhoff which can be examined in the Royal Irish Academy, with the marginal notes given the reader some insight into Emmet’s thinking…….
(MORE LATER).

“Picking up yeomanry reinforcements along the way, the combined British force of about 700 troops lost no time in forming up at the bottom of the hill to attack the rebels who had posted themselves behind defenses such as old walls and ditches. An attack up the hill was quickly launched and met strong resistance from the rebels but the superior firepower of the military combined with a well-executed bayonet charge drove the rebels from the hill, dispersing them with much slaughter….”
….and now a like-minded foe has come back for the Hill itself , intent on causing as much destruction as it wants…

BRITISH OCCUPATION AND THE LONDON ‘TIMES’ .
From ‘The United Irishman’ newspaper, January 1958 .

In some ways it is a pity the ‘London Times’ newspaper isn’t more widely read in Ireland . The issue of December 9 , 1957 , for example , makes interesting reading : that Imperial organ set us straight on partition and Irish independence , and should be made required reading for the front-benchers of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael:

” It’s (ie the Six Occupied Counties) resolution to remain under the Crown and to keep the Union Jack flying has not swerved . The second problem is the perennial one of keeping the peace. The Free State , now a republic (’1169..’ Comment - … a banana republic, only..) came into being because a minority of Irishmen felt so strongly that they were prepared to fight . (’1169..’ Comment - shame on that ‘minority’ , to be sure . Didn’t they know that the Empire had troublesome natives in other colonies to be dealing with ? No damn consideration , what !)

The men (’1169…’ Comment - …and women!) who fought were hailed as heroes and martyrs . This is understandable enough as a common accompaniment of militant patriotism but , as always happens in such cases , it proved easier to encourage young men to use the gun than to persuade them that the time for doing so was past . The Northern Ireland Government (sic- a puppet administration , guided by Westminster) has to-day perpetually to be on its guard against murderous raids carried out by gangsters who see themselves as patriots following in the footsteps of heroic fathers……. ”
(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.

The future , then , for Ireland , economically and socially , depends not on more attempts to rescue or prop up the capitalist system , which has proved impotent , but on replacing it totally .

The inextricably malignant influence of Britain’s interference remains as relevant as it ever was , economically , in Ireland , but at the same time the native capitalist malignancy has been developing within . Both must be destroyed .

[END of ‘ECONOMY IN CRISIS - An Historical Perspective’]
(Next : ‘A Portrait Of Ireland’ - from 1986)

ROBERT EMMET - THE DARLING OF ERIN.
Margaret McKearney looks at the life and death of one of Ireland’s most enduring heroes.
From ‘Fourthwrite’ magazine, Autumn 2003.

Son of Dr Robert Emmet and Elizabeth Mason, with the father serving as state physician to the vice-regal household : however , the good doctor wasc a social reformer who believed that in order to achieve the emancipation of the Irish people it was first necessary to break the link with England .

Born into this household on March 4th , 1778 , Robert Emmet was baptised on March 10th in St Peter’s Church of Ireland in Aungier Street , Dublin . The young Robert attended Oswald’s School in Dropping Court , off Golden Lane , Dublin . From there he went to Samuel Whytes School in Grafton Street , quite near his home , and later to the school of the Reverend Mr Lewis in Camden Street .

He entered Trinity College , Dublin, in October 1793 at the age of fifteen and a half where he practiced his oratorical skills in the Historical and Debating Societies . One of his friends at TCD was the poet Thomas Moore…….
(MORE LATER).

IGNORING OUR HISTORY…
“ We really must enter a protest against the way in which Irish history is written by some English historians. In Wright’s History of Ireland we find the following gratuitous assertion offered to excuse De Clare’s crime: “Such a refinement of cruelty must have arisen from a suspicion of treachery, or from some other grievous offence with which we are not acquainted.” If all the dark deeds of history are to be accounted for in this way, we may bid farewell to historical justice. And yet this work, which is written in the most prejudiced manner, has had a far larger circulation in Ireland than Mr. Haverty’s truthful and well-written history. When Irishmen support such works, they must not blame their neighbours across the Channel for accepting them as truthful histories.“
(From here)
“Historical justice…” ? Not if this political brothel has anything to do with it…….

O’Donovan Rossa , by Brian Na Banban…….
From ‘The United Irishman’ newspaper, January 1958 .

In their hearts plant the seeds of his story ,
In their minds light the dream of his soul ,
And point them the road that he travelled -
The rough road to Liberty’s goal .

Diarmuid O Donnabháin Rossa ,
Glory to God for his life ,
For the glorious memory he leaves us
To strengthen our hearts in the strife ,
Till the cause that he lived for has triumphed ,
Till the darkness of thraldom has fled ,
And Ireland , unfettered, shall honour
The names of her patriot dead !

[END of ‘O Donovan Rossa’]
(Next: ‘British Occupation And The London Times Newspaper’ - from the same source.)

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.

The lesson then of this examination of the Irish economic experience is the failure , even in its own terms , of the native capitalist system , despite every possible state assistance , to bring prosperity to the Irish people , whether through agriculture or industry .

Foreign capital , whether British or American , has been confirmed as only a self-interested entity in the economic system . The Irish capitalist has often ridden the nationalist tide , sometimes following it , sometimes leading it , but inevitably his concentration on personal profit dictates his approach to all other considerations . The future then for Ireland , economically and socially , depends on replacing such a failed system…….
(MORE LATER).

PRISONERS RIGHTS - the mark of a civilised society …….
From ‘Fourthwrite’ magazine, Autumn 2003.
By Siobhan O’Dwyer.

To invoke another memory from the past , it is time to get up off our knees and to dissent loudly from the brutal oppression of whole groups of people by the US and Britain and to stand again with the republican prisoners , their families and supporters against a criminalisation policy that is just wrong .

We have the power to stand against the ‘New World Order’ and there is no better place to start than in our own back yard with our own people .

[END of ‘ PRISONERS RIGHTS - the mark of a civilised society ‘]
(NEXT : ‘ Robert Emmet - The Darling Of Erin’ , from the same source)

Victims of the Great Hunger…
‘The Times’ editorial of September 30, 1845, warned; “In England the two main meals of a working man’s day now consists of potatoes.” England’s potato-dependence was as excessive as Ireland’s. Grossly over-populated relative to its food supply, England faced famine unless it could import vast amounts of alternative food. But it didn’t take merely Ireland’s surplus food; or enough Irish food to save England. It took more; for profit and to exterminate the people of Ireland. British Queen Victoria’s economist, Nassau Senior, expressed his fear that existing policies “…will not kill more than one million Irish in 1848 and that will scarcely be enough to do much good.” When an eye-witness urged a stop to the genocide-in-progress, Trevelyan replied: “We must not complain of what we really want to obtain.” Trevelyan insisted that all reports of starvation were exaggerated, until 1847. He then declared it ended and refused entry to the American food relief ship Sorciére. Thomas Carlyle, influential British essayist, wrote; “Ireland is like a half-starved rat that crosses the path of an elephant. What must the elephant do? Squelch it - by heavens - squelch it.” ‘Total Annihilation’ suggested The Times leader of September 2, 1846; and in 1848 its editorialists crowed “A Celt will soon be as rare on the banks of the Shannon as the red man on the banks of Manhattan…”

PLEASE HELP US TO GET A TRUE RESOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF BRITISH INTERFERENCE IN IRISH AFFAIRS .
Thank You ,
Sharon.