REPUBLICAN COMMEMORATIONS : JANUARY 2009.

Dáithi Ó Conaill Commemoration , Thursday, January 1st 2009 (New Year’s Day) : Assemble at the Gates Of Glasnevin Cemetery , Dublin , at 12.45pm . Main Speaker Tomas Ó Clerigh, Dublin.

Seán Sabhat Commemoration , Sunday, January 4th 2009 : Assemble at Bedford Row , Limerick at 1.45pm for Parade to Mount St Lawrence Cemetery.

Feargal Ó hAnnluain Commemoration, Sunday January 11th 2009 : Assemble at the Cathedral , Monaghan, at 2pm , for the Parade to Latlurgan Cemetery.

CHRISTMAS DAY 2008 ON THE GRAND CANAL IN INCHICORE , DUBLIN , AT THE ANNUAL CABHAIR FUND-RAISING SWIM : as expected - because of their now 32-years in the ‘business’ - CABHAIR put on a brilliant display yesterday at the Swim in Inchicore ! They had a crowd of about 100 people at the event , two tables groaning under the weight of various foodstuffs and ‘adult soup’ (!) , a twin-speaker music system , various banners , posters and plaques and , of course , a number of swimmers . And it stayed dry for the occasion ! This blog has received over thirty photographs of the event , and we have published same on this and three other sites - links to those sites can be found at the end of this post.
Enjoy the following pics , follow the links for more of same and please remember this - Irish Republican prisoners are not only in prison at Christmas time : CABHAIR need your support throughout the rest of the year, too…..

Santa shows his support!

” Piece of cake . No , really - I just dropped-by for a piece of cake…”

Liam The Swimmer - smiling now that it’s over !

“My left arm’s frozen solid . Just grab my right one and get me outta here…!”

“Now I have to walk the plank…!”

Tastes better than canal water!

“WATCH OUT, folks - this timber is slippeee…!”

Two of the swimmers , thinking that they’d rather jump into the fire….

Too late for second thoughts!

“If anyone finds half of a pair of togs….”

More photo’s at our sister site (post dated Friday 26 December 2008) and on these two ‘Indymedia’ threads .
Thanks,
Sharon.

DON’T LET THIS…

…SPOIL YOUR CHRISTMAS !

Take yourself (and the shocked children!) to the CABHAIR Christmas Swim -

- 12 Noon , Christmas Day , Grand Canal , Inchicore , Dublin : opposite Kelly’s ‘Black Horse Inn’ pub .

A CABHAIR Crew visited the site this morning (Christmas Eve) to check it over and sent us these two photographs -

Swim site , as seen from the end of the Naas Road….

…and as seen from the far side of the Lough.

- word is that two of the Cabhair Crew had to physically restrain their other two colleagues as they simply couldn’t wait to jump in . So all four decided to cross the road to Kelly’s Pub to ‘quench their thirst’ for sampling liquids….
MORE LATER - pic’s and report to follow as soon as possible after the event .
Thanks!
Sharon.

UP THE REPUBLIC - OUR DAY WILL COME !
NOLLAIG SHONA DAR LEITHEOIRI !

Ar eagle an dearmaid ….

Rinne a lan fear agus ban croga iobairti mora , thug a mbeatha fiu , ar son na cuise uaisle seo .

CEART . SAOIRSE. DAONLATHAS .

—————–

A PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS TO OUR READERS !

Least we forget ….

This happened before when the Treaty of 1921 was signed and was forced on the Irish people in the name of peace . Republican Sinn Féin cherishes the objective of a free , democratic Ireland , as envisaged by Wolfe Tone and all Republicans down to 1916 and our own day . Many brave men and women sacrificed a lot , even their lives , for this noble Cause .

JUSTICE . FREEDOM . DEMOCRACY .
(From the ‘1169…’ Crew , December 2008. PLEASE NOTE : we are on a short break from normal posting , although we will post details of how the CABHAIR swim went and possibly a few other posts. We will return to ‘normal’ early in the New Year. Go raibh maith agat! Sharon.)

CHRISTMAS TIME….

…when we all tend to get distracted by the prevailing pressures : but some of us keep our eye on the ball as well! Almost seventy years ago , a dedicated group of Irish Volunteers went on a Christmas ’shopping spree’ with a difference - “…and when he stood up straight again he saw the muzzle of a revolver pointed in his face…”

At this time of year especially Irish Republicans remember those that give us our past -

LEST WE FORGET…
Thomas Ashe, Kerry, 5 days, 25 September 1917 (force fed by tube , died as a result).
Terrence McSweeny, Cork, 74 days, 25 October 1920.
Michael Fitzgerald, Cork, 67 days, 17 October 1920.
Joseph Murphy, Cork, 76 days , 25 October 1920 .
Joe Witty, Wexford , 2 September 1923.
Dennis Barry, Cork, 34 days, 20 November 1923.
Andy O Sullivan , Cork, 40 days, 22 November 1923.
Tony Darcy, Galway, 52 days, 16 April 1940.
Jack ‘Sean’ McNeela, Mayo, 55 days, 19 April 1940.
Sean McCaughey, Tyrone ,22 days, 11 May 1946 (hunger and thirst Strike).
Michael Gaughan, Mayo , 64 days, 3 June 1974.
Frank Stagg, Mayo , 62 days, 12 February 1976.
Bobby Sands, Belfast , 66 days, 5 May 1981.
Frank Hughes , Bellaghy (Derry), 59 days, 12 May 1981.
Raymond McCreesh , South Armagh , 61 days, 21 May 1981.
Patsy O Hara , Derry , 61 days, 21 May 1981.
Joe McDonnell , Belfast , 61 days, 8 July 1981.
Martin Hurson , Tyrone , 46 days, 13 July 1981.
Kevin Lynch, Dungiven ( Derry) ,71 days, 1 August 1981.
Kieran Doherty , Belfast , 73 days, 2 August 1981.
Tom McIlwee , Bellaghy (Derry) , 62 days, 8 August 1981.
Micky Devine , Derry , 60 days, 20 August 1981.
“Dear Christ! the very prison walls
Suddenly seemed to reel,
And the sky above my head became
Like a casque of scorching steel;
And, though I was a soul in pain,
My pain I could not feel.”
(’The Ballad of Reading Gaol’, by Oscar Wilde, written after his release from Reading prison on 19 May 1897.)

” Eighty-six years ago, in December 1922, the Curragh Camp was the scene of a terrible tragedy; it was the execution, by firing squad, of seven young men in the Military Detention Barracks, now the Curragh Prison. The full story of the events of the week from 13 December 1922, when the men were arrested, to 19 December 1922, when they were executed, is not now known. All of the people involved are dead, and with them their stories. It appears that all official records of the executions have been lost or destroyed…..”
(From here)

FOR THE RECORD…..

Between 17 November 1922 and 2 May 1923 , seventy-seven Republican prisoners were removed from their prison cells and shot dead by order of the Free State administration . In this post we name those 77 men and list where each man was executed and the date of same : we do so in the hope that , after the search engines have archived this information it will be retrieved by those who , like us , are of the opinion that these men should not be forgotten.

1922 :
James Fisher , Dublin , November 17.
Peter Cassidy , Dublin , November 17.
Richard Twohig , Dublin , November 17.
John Gaffney , Dublin , November 17.
Erskine Childers , Dublin , November 24.
Joseph Spooner , Dublin , November 30.
Patrick Farrelly , Dublin , November 30.
John Murphy , Dublin , November 30.
Rory O Connor , Dublin , December 8.
Liam Mellows , Dublin , December 8.
Joseph McKelvey , Dublin , December 8.
Richard Barrett , Dublin , December 8.
Stephen White , Dublin , December 19.
Joseph Johnston , Dublin , December19.
Patrick Mangan , Dublin , December 19.
Patrick Nolan , Dublin , December 19.
Brian Moore , Dublin , December 19.
James O’ Connor , Dublin , December 19.
Patrick Bagnel , Dublin , December 19.
John Phelan , Kilkenny , December 29.
John Murphy , Kilkenny , December 29.

1923:
Leo Dowling , Dublin , January 8.
Sylvester Heaney , Dublin , January 8.
Laurence Sheeky , Dublin , January 8.
Anthony O’ Reilly , Dublin , January 8.
Terence Brady , Dublin , January 8.
Thomas McKeown , Louth , January 13.
John McNulty , Louth , January 13.
Thomas Murray , Louth , January 13.
Frederick Burke , Tipperary , January 15.
Patrick Russell , Tipperary , January 15.
Martin O’ Shea , Tipperary , January 15.
Patrick McNamara , Tipperary , January 15.
James Lillis , Carlow , January 15.
James Daly , Kerry , January 20.
John Clifford , Kerry , January 20.
Michael Brosnan , Kerry , January 20.
James Hanlon , Kerry , January 20.
Cornelius McMahon , Limerick , January 20.
Patrick Hennesy , Limerick , January 20.
Thomas Hughes , Westmeath , January 20.
Michael Walsh , Westmeath , January 20.
Herbert Collins , Westmeath , January 20.
Stephen Joyce , Westmeath , January 20.
Martin Bourke , Westmeath , January 20.
James Melia , Louth , January 22.
Thomas Lennon , Louth , January 22.
Joseph Ferguson , Louth , January 22.
Michael Fitzgerald , Waterford , January 25.
Patrick O’ Reilly , Offaly , January 26.
Patrick Cunningham , Offaly , January 26.
Willie Conroy , Offaly , January 26.
Colum Kelly , Offaly , January 26.
Patrick Geraghty , Laoise , January 27.
Joseph Byrne , Laoise , January 27.
Thomas Gibson , Laoise , February 26.
James O’ Rourke , Dublin , March 13.
William Healy , Cork , March 13.
James Parle , Wexford , March 13.
Patrick Hogan , Wexford , March 13.
John Creane , Wexford , March 13.
Séan Larkin , Donegal , March 14.
Tim O’ Sullivan , Donegal , March 14.
Daniel Enright , Donegal , March 14.
Charles Daly , Donegal , March 14.
James O’ Malley , Galway , April 11.
Francis Cunnane , Galway , April 11.
Michael Monaghan , Galway , April 11.
John Newell , Galway , April 11.
John McGuire , Galway , April 11.
Martin Moylan , Galway , April 11.
Richard Hatheway , Kerry , April 25.
James McEnery , Kerry , April 25.
Edward Greaney , Kerry , April 25.
Patrick Mahoney , Clare , April 26.
Christopher Quinn , Clare , May 02.
William Shaughnessy , Clare , May 02.

The above-listed 77 men did not take up arms in the belief that they were fighting for the establishment of a morally-corrupt so-called ‘half-way-house’ institution , nor did they do so to assist the British in the ‘governance’ of one of their ‘part’ colonies : that which those men and many others fought for remains to be achieved . You can help present-day Irish Republicans to achieve that aim…….

….and , each December , you can help us in another way, too .
Thanks!
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.

An Economic and Resistance Campaign was re-emphasised in the updated ‘Eire Nua’ document and a committee headed by Post Office Engineering trade unionist Paddy Bolger was set up to devise a policy for the next Ard Fheis . The Economic Resistance Campaign forsees the involvement of Sinn Fein in trade union struggles like the PAYE marches and opposition to the ‘National(sic) Wage Agreement’, and to push Republican issues at grass roots trade union level . It also intends to encourage housing , unemployment and social agitation by the Republican Movement .

Those two developments reflect a political change in Republican thinking that is part and parcel of the IRA’s ‘long war’ scenario : if the IRA must stay around to fight that war , say the ‘radicals’ , then Sinn Fein must have something other than the initially intoxicating but in the long term irrelevant slogan of ‘Brits Out!’ . (’1169…’ Comment : the ‘Brits Out!’ slogan , when aimed at Westminster as is the case when used by Irish republicans , is not “irrelevant” - far from it : until that political and military ‘connection’ is broke there will be no political improvement in the Six County situation . And Sinn Fein has “something other” than mere ’slogans’ to offer.)

But those two developments and in particular the Economic Resistance Campaign are at the root of conservative unease with the move leftwards : not only is the term ‘Economic Resistance’ uncomfortably reminiscent of the ‘communist’ Officials and their concept of a ‘National Liberation Front’ but it also smacks of the same politics that led to the 1970 split over recognition of the ‘two States’ in Ireland……..

(MORE IN 2009).

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 .

British military spy John Colin Wallace decided to contact his colleague Fred Holroyd, after seeing him on television , to look for help : ” We were introduced by our Chief , Craig Smellie. I recognised Holroyd right away , even though in those days he wore a beard and dressed like a tramp as part of his undercover mission which took him south of the border . ”

Holroyd revealed on the TV programme some details of the dispute between MI5 and MI6 to which Wallace traces his problems . Like him , Holroyd had been forced to quit his spy job , moving to Rhodesia where he became a Major in command of an Army battalion fighting black guerrillas .

Wallace says - ” I wrote to Captain Holroyd that night , reminding him of the time when we met in the MI6 office in Ulster (sic) and asked for help in clearing my name .” Holroyd responded right away and , within weeks , he had turned up ‘new evidence’ to prove that Wallace could not have killed Jonathan Lewis . A vital witness , Amanda Metcalf , was interviewed by Holroyd who discovered that Metcalf had served Jonathan Lewis at her parents hotel , ‘The Golden Goose’ , on the A27 motorway close to the sea-side town of Arundel , long after police said Lewis must have been lying unconscious in the boot of Wallace’s BBC car . Amanda Metcalf said Lewis looked grim and worried , and was with another man . Wallace believes that that man was the real killer - a business friend of Lewis who has a criminal record…….

(MORE IN 2009).

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.

On February 7th , 1980 , 32 women prisoners in Armagh Jail began a ‘no-wash’ protest : in an old jail like that , dirt accumulates far more quickly than in modern prisons . The women’s periods were a particularly dangerous time for infection and several women did develop skin diseases and bowel troubles , yet their morale was higher than it had ever been .

While people on the outside were watching horrified , the women prisoners managed to remain completely united , supportive of each other , and determined to carry the protest through to the bitter end . And this they did , inflicting a defeat on prison governor George Scott’s regime in the process .

The women’s participation in the first hunger-strike further showed their determination : on December 1st 1980, Mairead Farrell , Mary Doyle and Mairead Nugent joined the fast . They remained on the Prison Wing , confined in an excreta-covered cell for almost two weeks , before they were transferred to the Hospital Wing of the jail . Their condition was deteriorating rapidly . The women ended their protest on December 19th 1980 , one day after the H-Block hunger-strikers , only after they had received official confirmation from the Republican Movement that the strike had in fact ended . The three women remained in the Hospital Wing until December 23rd 1980 , and were then removed and thrown back into their cells and immediately put back on lock-up , with no parcels allowed and complete loss of privileges . Subsequently the ‘no-wash’ protest ended in all the jails on March 1st 1981 , as Bobby Sands embarked on his hunger-strike . The women POW’s were moved to clean cells where they maintained their ‘no-work’ protest…….

(MORE IN 2009).
(PLEASE NOTE : this is our last ‘3-in-1′ post for 2008 - we are not quite finished yet for the year , as we will be posting CABHAIR Swim updates and other pieces , but we will not be posting any more ‘3-in-1′ articles untill the New Year. We will , however , be back before Christmas Day and between then and the New Year with other comments etc - Thanks!)
Sharon.

POT. KETTLE. BLACK.

The Irish ‘royal’ is on the left. But only in the picture.

The ‘President’ of this corrupt wee Statelet , Mary McAleese , addressed her subjects yesterday from the comforts of Arizona , where she is on a mission to drum-up increased trade between our Fat-Cats and any other Fat-Cats that reckon they can make a few bob out of us. In an apparent attempt to get us to work for less than we need to pay our way , Mary stated that we were all “…”overwhelmed with greed…” ,and stated : “I think that every one of us would have to say with our hands on our hearts that we were all consumed by that same element of consumerism. Somewhere along the line we began to think that we weren’t happy with deferred gratification. We had to have it now and in this moment, and I think that we have paid a very, very big price for that very radical shift…”
(From here. )

Indeed.

One wonders how Mary McAleese can find the time in her busy itinerary to visit Arizona especially when , as far as we know , her husbands colleague, Jackie McDonald, was not present . One also wonders if Mrs McAleese will receive an extra allowance , on top of the €6,613 per week which her spokesperson stated she receives “…for entertainment and personal expenses . The substantial proportion of this allowance goes to meet the cost of food , refreshments and entertainment..” We may yet have to do a collection , readers ……
Incidentally , Mary McAleese did not have an agreed proposer or seconder in 1997 when she sought the nomination for the position of State President from Fianna Fail . As she said herself at the time - ” Either of the candidates (Albert Reynolds and Michael O’ Kennedy, on the left in this photo, anyway,) could have got rid of me , there and then ; they would have been perfectly within their rights to insist that we follow the rules . That would have been the end of me and I would not have been a threat to whichever one of them was elected . I was very grateful for their generosity .”
Martin McAleese stated at the time , in relation to that same Fianna Fail nomination meeting : ” When Rory O’Hanlon (Fianna Fail Chairperson at the time) told us about the new procedure (ie that Fianna Fail were willing to forgo proposer and seconder) , I couldn’t believe that Albert had left the door open for her like that . I can only put it down to overconfidence on his part . If I was in his shoes , I’m afraid I would have insisted on party rules being obeyed .”
The McAleese’s and their like , in Leinster House and in the Free State Senate , are non-productive leeches that are living beyond our means. They jet-set around the globe like ‘royalty’ on a salary and expenses that those they are obstentially ‘attempting’ to ‘drum-up’ jobs for wouldn’t see in a life time. They should do the ‘patriotic’ thing and resign . After apologising , and paying back the taxpayer the millions that they have fleeced.
Sharon.

VOTE ‘NO’ to Lisbon Two!

In December 2008 - 6 months after the majority of those that voted in this State on the ‘Lisbon 1′ treaty had voted ‘NO’ , a conference was held in Brussels at which EU business representatives and the political leadership of the EU queried reps from Leinster House as to ‘how we had lost’ ; Micheál Martin and Dick Roche (who, in monetary and property terms, are both millionaires) explained , cap-in-hand , that they would need permission from their bosses in Brussels that it would be ok for them to return to Dublin and (falsely) claim that they fought tooth-and-nail to obtain ‘a better Lisbon treaty’ to put before the electorate in this State . Permission was granted.

When they arrived back in Dublin , Micheál Martin declared - ” We will not be asking people to vote on the same proposition “ and his political accomplice, Dick Roche, stated - ” Our partners understand , I believe, that we cannot and will not put the same package to our people.” However , those comments backfired on the Dastardly Duo : the political leadership in other EU member States became uneasy that the voters in this State were apparently being offered a better deal than they themselves got - the political bosses in Poland , Holland , Austria , Sweden and Britain “raised issues about the (’new’) protocol text relating to a belief that the Irish guarantees [SIC] amount , in effect , to a new treaty” (’Irish Mail On Sunday’ newspaper , 14 June 2009) .

The unhappy political leadership in those countries demanded , and got, a meeting with the EU Presidents Office in Brussels and loudly demanded to know what exactly was going on in relation to the so-called ‘new Irish Lisbon treaty’ and were assured by the fattest of all fat-cats in the EU that the two Dublin reps , Martin and Roche , had simply practically begged to be allowed to re-sell the old Lisbon treaty as ‘a new and improved’ version and that permission had been granted for them to do so. The political (mini) fat-cats from Poland , Holland , Austria , Sweden and Britain replied that such private assurances from Brussels re the Irish situation were worthless unless made public ; the EU Presidents Office then issued the following , short, statement , in relation to ‘the Irish situation’ - “The text of the guarantees (given to the Irish) explicity states that the Lisbon treaty is not changed thereby “ (’Sunday Tribune’ newspaper , 28 June 2009) , which was a follow-up statement to that issued on 19 June 2009 by Jan Fischer , the President of the Czech Statistical Office , who stated - “The protocol (’changes’) will clarify but not change either the context or the application of the treaty of Lisbon . It is an explanatory clarifying text which changes not a dot nor comma of the Lisbon treaty.”

It is obvious that an underhanded attempt is being made by underhanded politicians to ’sell’ us the equivalent of ’snake oil medicine’ : those demanding that we should vote ‘YES’ to Lisbon 2 are people of low calibre , with a matching set of political morals . Let’s show them - by voting ‘NO’ to Lisbon Two in October 2009 - that we are better than they are!

“Ní hea, No, Nein, Non, Nyet, Nope, Not, No Means No …”
What part of that don’t they understand ?

On Thursday , 12th June 2008 , a vote was held in this State on the Lisbon Constitution/Treaty : for months beforehand we were repeatedly told by the political ‘establishment’ in Leinster House that that what we were being asked to vote on was “non-negotiable” , that we had to vote on it as it then stood , that it was legally impossible to have anything removed from it or inserted into it. Now that same political ‘establishment’ are asking us to believe that not only was it possible to change that Treaty , but that they had managed to do so to the “benefit” of this State’s position within the EU !
However - Czech prime minister Jan Fischer, who chaired a meeting on the supposed ‘new Irish Lisbon Treaty’ (as his country presently holds the EU presidency) was questioned (on Friday 19th June 2009) on these ‘Irish changes’ and dismissed them as nothing of the sort : “The protocol (”changes”) will clarify but not change either the content or the application of the treaty of Lisbon. It is an explanatory clarifying text which changes not a dot nor comma of the Lisbon Treaty.”
What has actually been ‘achieved’ by those idiots in Leinster House is a promise (”guarantee”) from the bigger political fatcats in Brussels that , at some time in the future, they might look at making a few amendments to the way the Lisbon Two Treaty affects this State! And Brian Cowan and his equally useless cabal of semi-political misfits were never going to get “changes to the Lisbon Treaty” due to the fact that Poland , Holland , Austria , Sweden and Britain used their combined ‘weight’ to ‘lean’ on Brussels , stating that if the Irish were to be offered a new Treaty then they , too , would expect the same offer to be made to them - so a compromise was agreed : Brussels would allow Cowan to claim that a “new Treaty” for the Irish was on offer but , at the same time , made it clear to Cowan that what they were offering was a promise that , if passed this time, they would perhaps - at some future date - take a look at the manner in which the Treaty affected this State. And please have no doubt that that is all that is on offer here - a promise from corrupt millionaire politicians in Brussels that they will , someday , give a curious glance over their well-padded shoulder at the way their tax laws are effecting finances in this State.

Don’t be fooled by them - VOTE NO TO LISBON 2 in October 2009 .

“The meeting and dinner heard how Ireland’s “intellectual mediocrity and lack of political courage” led to the rejection of the Lisbon treaty and included discussions of how to “cuddle and pamper” the Irish voter ahead of a new vote while at the same time “making pressures on them”.
(From here.)

This video gives an apt description of the type of morally and politically corrupt politician and system that are now demanding we vote ‘the right way’ on the already failed Lisbon Treaty. And this video shows what those bent career politicians stand to loose if we don’t vote the way they want us to . As Republican Sinn Féin have stated - “The decision to re-run the referendum on the rejected Lisbon Treaty in the 26-Counties next October represents an attempt to subvert the sovereign will of the people.All kinds of pressure is being applied to those allowed to vote to ensure that they arrive at the result Brian Cowen and the EU ‘élite’ demand…..”
(From here.)
Once again, this blog will be campaigning for a ‘NO’ vote on the Lisbon Treaty , for the same reasons : the “guarantees” which Brian Cowen has received have been given to him by similar unprincipled characters and , even if they were to be written in blood , would still be worthless . VOTE ‘NO!’ and help keep the lifts and corridors of the EU building free of more political rats , who scurry around trying to find the ‘Sign In’ book before they head back home to the political brothels they come from .
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.

Visiting Irish Republican guest-speakers in America were instructed by NORAID never to refer to socialism , and one such guest speaker can recall discovering unopened bundles of ‘Republican News’ lying dumped in dustbins outside NORAID’s Bronx headquarters : some aspects of republicanism were always thought to be too radical for the Irish-Americans . There are traditional , conservative forces within the Provos ranged against the ‘radicals’ within the same organisation and , although there have been symbolic victories for them , notably the fusion (or takeover as some see it) of ‘Republican News’ with the Dublin-based ‘An Phoblacht’ , the real political debate has centred on the Provos 1972 policy docement , ‘Éire Nua’.

That document is identified in most people’s minds with two traditional leaders , Sinn Féin President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Vice President Dáithí Ó Conaill : at Sinn Féin’s last Ard Fheis held in January 1980 , but actually 1979’s Ard Fheis , that document was changed for the first time since the new policy document which was adopted ‘Éire Nua - the Social , Economic and Political Dimension’ , was more a change in emphasis than substance .

The language was more socialist than the 1972 document but some controversial clauses , especially relating to the right to land ownership , were merely changed or deleted by Sinn Féin’s ruling body , the Ard Comhairle . But what that document did do was to set in motion a series of moves which the radicals hope will turn the Provisionals leftwards . A women’s committee was set-up to devise a policy document to be debated at the next Ard Fheis - that policy will reflect the difficulties the radicals are having converting their more conservative and Catholic sisters . Women who have had abortions are not condemned but the system that forced them to is . Moral issues like contraception and divorce should , the committee decided, be left to individuals to choose…….

(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 .

British spy John Colin Wallace was charged in August 1980 with the murder of Jonathan Lewis , whose body had been removed from the River Arun . The charge was reduced to manslaughter after the trial judge , Mr Justice Kilner-Brown, said it was doubtful if he knew Lewis was dead as the body slipped into the water .

Wallace proclaimed his innocence from the beginning and his ex-MI6 wife , Eileen , has always agreed with him . Wallace himself says - ” The whole thing has been a nightmare . I’m not saying that Jonathan Lewis was killed to frame me and get me put in jail , but I believe that sinister forces who wished to discredit me took advantage of the situation which arose when a friend of mine died a violent death . You have to remember that I know about a lot of skeletons in the cupboard left there by British Intelligence in Ireland . Just as they tried to smear Peter Wright, the MI5 officer whose book they are trying to suppress , and John Stalker, who got too near the truth in the North of Ireland , they seized a chance to smear me . It was successful . Few people would be prepared to believe the word of a convicted killer about anything . ” (’1169..’ Comment : ‘alleged convicted killer’ or not , that is not the main reason why people would doubt his ‘word’ or , indeed , the ‘word’ of any Brit spy.)

After 45 hours of evidence and a four-and-a-half hour absence by the jury , Colin Wallace was found guilty of manslaughter and sent to jail for ten years in 1981 . For nearly five years he kept his belief that he had been framed under wraps . When there were changes in the top in British Intelligence he hoped against hope that he would be freed and that the nightmare would end quietly , with him being slipped from prison the way he had seen other prisoners released in Belfast on the say-so of the men who control the shadowy world in which Wallace once worked . His wife , now employed as personal assistant to the British ‘Duke of Norfolk’ - another old Intelligence hand - kept up discreet pressure to have her husband’s conviction investigated by British Secret Service bosses .

After five years , Wallace gave up hope that the British Intelligence mafia of which he had once been part would do anything for him ; in Lewes Prison one night he watched a Channel Four ‘Diverse Reports’ programme which featured Captain Fred Holroyd, a former British Military Intelligence Officer who had worked with MI6 in Lisburn , County Antrim . Wallace remembered meeting him in the British Secret Service office on the second floor of military HQ in Lisburn years before and decided to contact him , asking for help…….

(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.

Charges of ‘breaches of prison discipline’ were made against the prisoners on the flimsiest excuse . Prisoners were left in their cells for hours after asking to go to the toilets . In May 1978 male Screws were used to baton-charge female remand prisoners engaged on a protest action against the removal of political status . (’1169…’ Comment : How ironic that some of those protesting against the removal of political status would ‘evolve’ into constitutional anti-republican salaried puppets for Westminster and would themselves , in later years, remove political status from republican prisoners by calling for supprt for , and helping to implement , the 1998 ‘GFA’/Stormont Treaty! )

Such violence was an indication of things to come . Less than two years later , as tension had been slowly building up in the North’s jails , the protesting prisoners were savagely attacked by male and female Screws . February 7th 1980 marked the escalation of the protest as the Armagh women POW’s embarked on the ‘no-wash’ protest.

The prison administration’s pretext was a Wing search for the black uniforms that had been used some days earlier by the protesting prisoners for a commemoration in honour of dead IRA Volunteer ‘Dee’ Delaney. The prisoners were set upon as they were queuing up to get their dinner ; they were beaten , trailed by the hair , thrown downstairs and finally dragged in front of prison Governor George Scott who punished all of them by putting them on complete lock-up - this attitude left the women prisoners with no alternative other than to call a complete ‘no-wash’ protest : all 32 women in that Wing were in agreement with that course of action . The ‘no-wash’ protest lasted 13 months , during which more attention was focused on Armagh Jail than at any other time during the decade . But the cost to the prisoners was high…….

(MORE LATER).

Front of 2009 Republican Calendar.

2009 REPUBLICAN CALENDAR : AN ALL-YEAR-ROUND GIFT !

Back of 2009 Republican Calendar.

In the last few weeks of each year ,the Republican Movement issues a calendar for the new year : this year is no exception . The 2009 Republican Calendar features a series of hard-to-get and/or seldomn seen Republican prints and , judging by sales so far , looks set to become a collectors item . Priced at €5 each , these calendars are available from the local Cumann or paper-seller in your area or by contacting the RSF Office in Dublin (223 Parnell Street , Dublin 1 , fón 8729747) or the Belfast Office (229 Falls Road , fón 90319004) : so keep up-to-date with the Republican Movement and stay 12 months ahead of the ‘establishment’ - order your 2009 Calendar today !

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FAT CATS : No money for our pensioners or for our school-kids , but €400 billion found for the Banks!

On Saturday , 6th December 2008 , Republican Sinn Féin held it’s monthly protest at the GPO in O’Connell Street , Dublin , in support of POW status for republican prisoners : half of the approximate thirty-strong group of protesting republicans stayed on that protest whilst , as pre-arranged, the other half joined-in with the 70,000-strong crowd that were protesting against State education cuts . The following five photographs were taken by an RSF member on that protest march -

“Our kids can’t afford it - and neither can we…!”

Small kids , bigger classes…

“Don’t punish our kids for your incompetence…”

School kids , parents and teachers - united in their demand: “No Education Cut-Backs…!”

” Hey ! Cowen ! Leave our kids alone….!”

“The development of the race depends on the development of the individual , and where self-culture has ceased to be the ideal , the intellectual standard is instantly lowered and , often, ultimately lost…”
(Oscar Wilde)
Congratulations and “Well Done!” to all those who took to the streets of Dublin on Saturday December 6th last , whether in protest against the Education cut-backs or to highlight the POW issue : both are honourable Causes!
Sharon.