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The Plough
Vol. 3- No 28
Tuesday July 11th 2006
E-mail newsletter of the
Irish Republican Socialist Party
1) Editorial
2) Demonisation by the “News of the World” rag
3) White line picket
4) Richard O’Rawe, P.S.F. and Events in 1981.
5) Used, Abused, Disgarded, to the Scrapheap
6) Ireland's risk-of-poverty rate among EU's highest
7) Fermanagh IRSP-Statement
8) From the newspapers
9) Letters
a. 1916 and the Sommne
b. The masses
Editorial
This edition of the Plough contains a rebuttal of a sensational
front page story in the News of the World Sunday paper by Martin
Breen on the 2nd of July. The rebuttal by comrade Willie Gallagher
is a measured response to an article that surely has the hand of
British intelligence behind it. The only truth in the article is
that members of the IRSP did go to Cuba as part of a work camp last
year. The full details were carried in the Plough Vol. 2- No 44
E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party on
Saturday 23rd July 2005. Breen obviously prefers to listen to pub
gossip from his ‘friends in intelligence than actually do any
research. Some journalist, some writer!!
Other articles here cover a recent protest against the
criminalization policy against republican prisoners,which involved a
wide spread of republicans from different organisations.We may
differ in policies and strategy but on the issue of the prisoners we
are united. There is also a thoughtful article on the controversy
over the book, “Blanketmen” by Richard O’Rawe and a look at the
plight of free state soldiers thrown to the wolves after serving
their time. The growth of the IRSP continues as we carry a statement
from a new branch of the IRSP in Fermanagh.
As the bonfires born on the 11th night in the six counties and we
face another orange celebration of bigotry a recent poll has shown
little or no support or even interest in the Good Friday Agreement.
All that we can now look forward to is more of the same sad
sectarianism that has dominated politics in the six counties. That
will only end when the state itself is smashed. Those who advocate
the restoration of a Stormont assembly are only carrying on the
politics that have failed for the 86 years of the existence of the
Northern state.
Demonisation by the “News of the World” rag
The News of the World story featuring myself and Gerard Murray is
typical of the tabloid press in distortion of the truth and begs the
question as to how this paper came into possession of the
photographs contained in the article.
Last October the PSNI seized these particular photographs, as well
as others, and other documentation relating to our trip to
Cuba.There was nothing secret about this trip, we were not wined and
dinned, we had no secret meetings with Castro, we did not clinch any
deals in relation to laundering money as we had nothing to launder.
In fact nothing occurred in Cuba that could be construed in any
shape or form as sinister.
Obviously some of the sources for that article was the PSNI who
recently returned documentation, computers and other material
belonging to Teach na Failte that was seized last October in a so
called money laundering investigation. They informed the European
funders that nothing of interest was found.
Recently the PSNI have been returning other items that were seized
during the same raids to individuals connected with the IRSP and
Teach na Failte. Again nothing of interest was found. Last week I
was informed that the materials seized at my home were in the
process of being returned to me.
The October raids occurred in a wave of PSNI inspired publicity
which has been very muted until yesterdays article, which in my
opinion, will be used as some sort of excuse for the PSNI failing to
find anything of substance and as a cover for their keystone-cops
activities.
‘Those crafty IRPS shifted everything to Cuba. Thats why we couldn’t
find anything.’
It is nothing new and comes as no surprise that the PSNI are using
the press as another tool in their arsenal for political objectives
and as a means of justification for their nefarious activities. The
raids on Teach na Failte had nothing to do with money laundering but
was in fact more about the State closing Teach na Failte down, which
in effect they have done despite finding absolutely nothing of
substance to justify their actions.
The above coupled with the fact that harsh words were exchanged with
a reporter from the News of the World over the demonisation and
hounding of Dessie O Hare a number of months ago would be much
closer to the truth than the laughable claims that appeared in this
paper. It was made clear then that the IRSP would be making no
comments on any subject to this paper ever again and the recent
article, as well as the hounding of Dessie O Hare and his family is
clearly why we should stay away from the tabloid press.
A detailed account of our time in Cuba was featured in the Starry
Plough and gives an opposite but accurate version of our
experiences.
I am now in the process of seeking legal advise particularly in
regards to photographs that were seized during PSNI raids and ending
up in the tabloid press.
Willie Gallagher.
White line picket
The IRSP embarked on the first of a planned campaign to highlight
the plight and support the cause of the political prisoners
currently on protest in Maghaberry gaol by staging a white line
picket from the bottom of the Whiterock Road to Beechmount Avenue.
Around 150 Belfast IRSP activists lined this stretch of the Falls
Road to protest their disgust at the unacceptable treatment of
Republican POW's within Maghaberry gaol by the British Government
and their Prison Service.
The IRSP fully support the prisoners in their protest and call for
the reinstatement of political status, which was surrendered by a
branch of Irish Republicanism within the acceptance of the British
manufactured Good Friday Agreement. The sacrifices of the ten brave
republican volunteers and martyrs of Long Kesh in 1981 must not be
in vain. The demands won then are the right of each and every
republican POW incarcerated now.1981 must be a lesson to us all. Do
not allow a return to those dark and dismal days, stand by the POW's
now, remember the hunger strikers with pride and demand the
reinstatement of political status!
(Belfast IRSP statement July 8th 2006)
RICHARD O’RAWE; P.S.F. AND EVENTS IN 1981.
“It only becomes the truth when it is officially denied:”
I imagine from the title of this article it would be natural to
think I am writing about O’Rawes’ book, “Blanketmen”. Nothing could
be further from the truth. I haven’t even read the book, though no
doubt I will eventually get around to getting a copy of it.
I am more interested in the Provisional Movements’ Leadership’s (P.M.L.)
reaction to the book and that of a few others like Danny Morrison. I
had, of course, heard about O’Rawes’ claims, but felt that they were
only his opinions and would have no way of backing them up. It was a
non-starter and people would soon forget about his claims that the
P.M.L outside the prison let the last 6 Hunger Strikers die,
including 2 I.N.L.A. Volunteers, to promote their own political
agenda. Let’s face it, this claim was so serious I did not believe
it; I was wondering what agenda O’Rawe was working to, and the
release of the book coming up to the 25th anniversary of the Hunger
Strikers deaths smacked of commercialism.
The reactions came thick and fast from those close to Adams P.l.c,
they were on radio rubbishing the book and O’Rawe, they used their
own columns in newspapers to debunk his claims, some were emotional,
some tried to used “facts”, like the “comms” O’Rawe sent out of the
prison during the Hunger Strike to lay the blame for the last 6
deaths elsewhere. All of this is to be expected and is
understandable.
So all I got out of it was claim and counter-claim, it was going
no-where, the truth was there to be got, but I believed we would
never get to the bottom of it, and it was just best to get on with
it rather than waste time looking for something I would never find.
As time went past and I had nearly forgotten all about the book. I
happened to find myself in Derry painting a mural to one of the
I.N.L.A. Hunger Strikers, Pasty O’Hara. That Tuesday evening we went
to a bar to catch the second part of an R.T.E. documentary about the
Hunger Strike, the first part being the previous Tuesday. O’Rawe was
interviewed and repeated his claim about the last 6 the men to die,
nothing new in that I thought, Morrison was on also, but he said
nothing new either. So as I sat watching, I thought this is getting
away from the reason that the men died, and was getting bogged down
on these claims. Adams was interviewed and was doing what he does
best, stroking his own ego. As the show seemed to loose its way, the
people with me were talking away rather than watching the show, even
I was loosing interest. Then Adams, in an answer to a question about
the “Mountain Climbers’” (The British Governments’ go between to the
P.M.L.) offer to the Hunger Strikers, said that he did not know
about the Mountain Climber until afterwards. At first I thought I
had heard him wrong. I asked had anybody else heard what Adams had
just said. No, they all said. Surely I was mistaken in what I heard
him say, “BASICALLY I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN CLIMBER UNTIL
AFTERWARDS.” I knew I had heard him correctly, but couldn’t believe
what I was hearing. Everybody who had read 10 Men Dead knew Adams
was up to speed on all the doings of the Mountain Climber. Yet here
he was on R.T.E. saying that he was unaware of it all. My first
thought, after the initial shock, was why would he say that? Adams
is not a foolish person, yet here he was committing himself on
national T.V. to the “fact” that he was unaware of the Mountain
Climber.
We were all tired after a long day painting the mural, and after
only three pints, we went to our digs and I was soon asleep. When I
awoke the next morning I could not think of anything else, Adams
knew nothing about the Mountain Climber? Why would he say that? Even
when we were working away at the mural, I kept thinking what was the
reason for him denying his role in this part the Hunger Strike?
There was a reason sure enough, but I couldn’t work out why. Then an
incredible thought came to me, what if O’Rawe is telling the truth?
Is Adams trying to distance himself from his part in the Hunger
Strike because, if it is true, that the last 6 men died for
Provisional Sinn Fein’s future plans in politics that would end his
political career over night? His silence is deafening, he should be
shouting from the roof tops that O’Rawe is wrong. Yet we hear
nothing from the “main player” on the outside of the H-Blocks during
the Hunger Strike, you would hear more noise out of a gold fish,
why?
Trying to get proof that Adams knew about the Mountain Climber
during this part the Hunger Strike would not be easy. R.T.E. didn’t
even try by the looks of it. My first thought was to look up the
book Ten Men Dead, in it I found plenty of comms addressed to
“Brownie” and the book claims that this is Adams. On page 37 it
states Adams “writing a book, Peace in Ireland, and a regular column
under the pen name ‘Brownie’ in Republican News, the weekly journal
of Sinn Fein”. All through the book there are references to Adams as
“Brownie”. On page 347 a comm addressed to Brownie from Bik dated
July 30, starts “Firstly it was great having a yarn with you last
night”, this was in reference to a visit to the Hunger Strikers by
Adams, Owen Carron and I.R.S.P. representative Seamus Ruddy, the
previous evening. So it is one of these three, go to the end of the
comm, and Bik signs off by asking Brownie “to tell Owen and Seamus
it was a pleasure meeting them”. That leaves Adams as Brownie. Now
Brownie is mentioned all the way through the book, Bik must have
written to Brownie daily. Adams went into the prison to talk to the
Hunger Strikers and Bik. If Adams knew nothing about the Mountain
Climber, what were they talking about? Surely it could not have been
the British offer/deal as he knew “nothing about it till
afterwards”. Even more interesting is the Danny Morrison Column in
the Daily Ireland on June 7th 2006. In his head long rush to prove
O’Rawe was wrong about his claims, he proves Adams is lying about
his role in the Hunger Strike: Morrison was allowed into the prison
on the 5th of July, before Joe Mc Donnell died, to explain the
offer/deal to the Strikers and Bik, as Bik was talking to the
Strikers “Morrison is allowed to phone out from the doctors surgery.
Tells ADAMS that prisoners will not take anything on trust…” Why
tell Adams anything about the prisoner’s response to an offer/deal
Adams knew nothing about. Surely he would have said to Morrison what
offer/deal are you on about? Then Morrison goes on to tell us in the
same column that “6 July. GERRY ADAMS confides in I.C.J. P. about
secret contact and the difference in the offers”. Again what could
Adams tell the I.C.J.P. about the “secret contact” if he didn’t know
about it till afterwards? So Morrison confirms also that Adams is
lying about his role in the Hunger Strike.
A number of weeks after the R.T.E. show the BBC showed one also on
the Hunger Strike. Adams was interviewed and talking about the
ending of the first Hunger Strike says that he and others were
reading the Mountain Climbers offer/deal in Clonard Monastery “when,
if memory serves me correctly, Tom Hartley came in and said the
Hunger Strike is over, they called it off”. So Adams wants us to
believe that he was at the heart of things with the Mountain Climber
during the first Hunger Strike, but knew nothing “until afterwards”
during the second Hunger Strike, who kept him out of the loop and
why? It is obvious that Adams is lying. Let’s go over some of the
points I have made.
1: Adams says on R.T.E. in the show in May 2006 “that he knew
nothing about the Mountain Climber offer/deal until afterwards”
2: June 7 2006. Morrison in his Daily Ireland article, phones Adams
from the prison hospital about offer/deal. Also says about Adams
visit to the I.C.P.J. about offer/deal.
3: June 27. Adams admits on BBC that he was reading Mountain
Climbers offer/deal for ending first Hunger Strike.
4: June 27. On the same show Adams talks about Mountain Climber
during the 2 Hunger Strikes.
5: Ten Men Dead. As can be seen in the book, “Brownie” was involved
in every aspect of the Hunger Strike. If Adams knew nothing about
the Mountain Climber, why has he never denied he was “Brownie”?
The question remains why Adams would want to distance himself from
his role in the Hunger Strike. Of course this does not prove
O’Rawe’s claims are true. But it does prove Adams is lying. He was
fully aware of the Mountain Climber. So he has reasons to lie, Adams
needs to tell, at least the families of the Hunger Strikers, why he
is lying about what went on during those first few days in July 1981
when he, and a few others, were in contact with the British. If he
does this, he can prove O’Rawe wrong, if not, that, at least gives
O’Rawe the “Moral High ground” in his claim that the last 6 Hunger
Strikers were allowed to die by a few people for their own political
gains.
It is mind boggling, frightening even. But, impossible? You
decide….I am off to read O’Rawe’s book, as I have been told he makes
some other claims about people who were in the leadership of the
prisoners in the H-Blocks at that time, which if true, will be worth
looking into….
Gerard Foster
Belfast.
(The above article also appeared in the Blanket July 10th 2006)
USED, ABUSED, DISGARDED TO THE SCRAPHEAP.
It is not often, if ever, that writing for a republican publication
should try to evoke any sympathy towards members of the 26 county
defence forces. However on this occasion perhaps it is time to make
incursions into this unwritten rule.
On Monday 3rd July 2006 I was listening and watching with interest
to the 6-one news bulletin on RTE. The bulletin reported on the fate
of members of the free state defence forces who served along the
British imposed border during the late 1960s and 1970s.
Some of these men have suffered psychological and physical damage as
a result of their tour of duty along the border. According to the
bulletin the 26 county government have offered little if any form of
rehabilitation or/and treatment for these former free state
soldiers.
Many of these men have, or are suffering from alcoholism, marriage
break-ups , mental illness outside that of alcoholism and many are
now homeless. These men are the forgotten victims of the war in the
six counties and their conditions, it would appear are “a direct
result of their tour of duty” along the border. As per usual in such
circumstances these men would have been brought up on a diet of
bullshit such as “ you are fighting for your country\ and “ be proud
to serve your country”. Maybe if they had crossed the border these
normally nonsensical statements could have held an element of truth
but that was not the case.
What they should have been told was something approaching the truth,
along the lines of
“you are going to the border to ensure that the troubles of the six
counties don\rquote t come over the border and interfere with the
cushy existence of your lords and masters in the 26 counties.”
As usual when people fall foul of the circumstances they are forced
into there are no facilities available to rehabilitate them, a
disgrace applicable to any country operating under a system they are
pleased to call Liberal Democracy. Perhaps long overdue a hostel has
been opened in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, for ex free state army
personnel who served along the border nearly three decades ago and
not before time. The hostel will offer some form of rehabilitation
and treatment for the deterioration in the health and condition of
these men.
Much hype is often made about the physical and psychological
injuries suffered by the British Crown Forces, RUC/PSNI and members
of the colonial prison service but very little if anything is
reported on injuries suffered by members of the 26 county forces.
These people are just as much victims of a situation not of their
own making as anybody else. The 26 county capitalist class
consistent with the capitalist system which they thrive under do not
want to know these unprofitable personnel. Many of these men were
“not allowed to communicate” with the local populace, and remember
this is on the Southern side of the border, were forced to do 24
hour shifts with no sleep and when they could grab a couple of hours
they were given wooden boards to lay on with no sleeping bags. This
typifies the contempt in which the present system holds for the
people who, all be it foolishly, are the first to offer up their
lives in defence of the system. These people who offer their chests
for a bullet are normally from the most dispossessed downtrodden and
exploited stratas of society.
Maybe the progressive steps taken in Letterkenny could give a signal
of conscience out to the 26 county government, however “don’t hold
your breath “ as capitalism does not conduct its self on
humanitarian lines.
As socialists it is hoped that one day there will be a society in
which armies are no longer necessary, a redundant force consigned to
the dustbin of history. However to achieve that goal of displacing
an obstinate entrenched, greedy profit motivated enemy, the
capitalist class, in all its manifestations it will be, regrettably
necessary to break eggs in order to create the revolutionary
socialist omelette. This, it is hoped, will give rise to a society
geared towards peoples’ needs and not the profits of a greedy few. A
society geared towards caring for people who are ill and not
consigning them to the scrap heap which is what we witness daily
under the present imbecile system called capitalism.\par
Kevin Morley
Ireland's risk-of-poverty rate among EU's highest
Ireland has one of the highest rates in the EU of people at risk of
falling into poverty, according to a report ,”Measuring Ireland’s
Progress, 2005” published by the Central Statistics Office.
The proportion of Irish people at risk of poverty, after pensions
and social transfer payments were taken into account, was 21% in
2004, one of the highest rates in the EU.
The effect of pensions and social transfers on reducing the
at-risk-of-poverty rate was low in Ireland compared with other EU
countries.
In 2002, social protection expenditure in Ireland was less than 16%
of GDP. This was half of the rate in Sweden and the lowest of the EU
15 countries.
Fermanagh IRSP-Statement
Up to one hundred republicans gathered in Enniskillen's Cornagrade
estate on Saturday 1st July to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1981
hungerstrike. A mural in honour of the hungerstrikers was unveiled
by Michael and Louise Devine, the son and daughter of the tenth man
to die during the 1981 hungerstrike Micky Devine. During the
ceremony a short oration was delivered by Michael Og in which he
congratulated those involved in remembering the sacrifices of his
father and his nine comrades. He also paid tribute to those involved
in the establishment of a new Irish Republican Socialist Party
cumann in Fermanagh and hoped that Saturday's event was the first in
what he hoped would be a long line of political activity for the
party in Fermanagh.
During the event a wreath was laid at the Bobby Sands memorial on
behalf of the newly established Fermanagh IRSP cumann.
From the newspapers
The story peddled by imperial apologists is a poisonous fairytale
Neocon ideologues are being given free rein by the media to rewrite
the history of Britain's empire and whitewash its crimes
A resurrection is haunting the British media, the bizarre apparition
of "benevolent empire". It takes the form of documentaries and
discussions steered towards the conclusion that colonialism was not
such a bad thing after all and that something of a celebration is in
order. Trouble is, to get there, some creative reworking of the
facts is needed. After a recent brouhaha about Britain's imperial
history on Radio 4's Start the Week - in which I took part - the
presenter Andrew Marr worried that the debate had been "pretty
biased" against empire: there was a lot of enthusiasm and a "warm
nostalgia" for empire, he suggested in the subsequent phone-in, even
in former colonies, "still something there, absolutely".
Only the desire to recover some imaginary good from the tragedy that
was empire can explain the elevation of the neoconservative
ideologue Niall Ferguson to chief imperial historian on the BBC and
now Channel 4. His aggressive rewriting of history, driven by the
messianic fantasies of the American right, is being presented as a
new revelation. In fact, Ferguson's "history" is a fairytale for our
times which puts the white man and his burden back at the centre of
heroic action. Colonialism - a tale of slavery, plunder, war,
corruption, land-grabbing, famines, exploitation, indentured labour,
impoverishment, massacres, genocide and forced resettlement - is
rewritten into a benign developmental mission marred by a few
unfortunate accidents and excesses.
Soundbite culture thrives on these simplistic grand narratives.
Half-truths and fanciful speculation, shorn of academic protocols
such as footnotes, can sound donnishly authoritative. The racism
institutionalised by empire also seems to be back in fashion. The
book accompanying Ferguson's current Channel 4 series on
20th-century history, The War of the World, tells us that people
"seem predisposed" to "trust members of their own race", "those who
are drawn to 'the Other' may ... be atypical in their sexual
predilections" and that "when a Chinese woman marries a European
man, the chances are relatively high ... that only the first child
they conceive will be viable." Not far from the pseudo-scientific
nonsense that once made it possible to punish interracial
relationships.
Behind such talk and the embrace of the broadcasters is the
insistence that we are being offered gutsy truths that the
"politically correct" establishment would love to suppress. This is
the neo-conservative as spunky rebel against liberal tyranny. Yet
Ferguson peddles nothing more than the most hackneyed, self-aggrandising
myths of empire, canards once championed by old imperialists such as
Macaulay and Mill and rehashed now by the Bush administration:
western imperialism brings freedom, democracy and prosperity to
primitive cultures. The myth decorates US and British foreign policy
spin while trendier versions have also emerged in platforms such as
the Euston Manifesto. By anointing Ferguson and his fellow imperial
apologists such as Andrew Roberts as semi-official historians, the
British media are colluding in a dangerous denial of the past and
lending support to contemporary US imperial propaganda .
The evidence - researched by scholars such as Amartya Sen, Nicholas
Dirks, Mike Davis and Mahmood Mamdani, Caroline Elkins and Walter
Rodney - shows that European colonialism brought with it not good
governance and freedom, but impoverishment, bloodshed, repression
and misery. Joseph Conrad, no radical, described it as "a flabby,
pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly".
Good governance?
More famines were recorded in the first century of the British Raj
than in the previous 2,000 years, including 17-20 million deaths
from 1896 to 1900 alone. While a million Indians a year died from
avoidable famines, taxation subsidising colonial wars, and relief
often deliberately denied as surplus grain was shipped to England.
Tolerance?
The British empire reinforced strict ethnic/religious identities and
governed through these divisions. As with the partition of India
when 10 million were displaced, arbitrarily drawn boundaries between
"tribes" in Africa resulted in massive displacement and bloodshed.
Freedom and fair play? In Kenya, a handful of white settlers
appropriated 12,000 square miles and pushed 1.25 million native
Kikuyus to 2,000 restricted square miles. Resistance was brutally
crushed through internment in detention camps, torture and
massacres. Some 50,000 Kikuyus were massacred and 300,000 interned
to put down the Mau Mau rebellion by peasants who wanted to farm
their own land. A thousand peaceful protesters were killed in the
Amritsar massacre of 1919.
A collective failure of the imagination now makes it difficult for
us to think about the globe before European and American domination.
Greed and violence are hardly exclusive to one culture. But
colonialism destroyed or strangled possibilities and potential for
progress, such as Mughal Emperor Akbar's "sul-e-kul" or "universal
good" which underpinned his governance. The scale of European
imperialism inaugurated a new chapter in the history of greed which
still shapes all our lives.
Natural resources - cotton, sugar, teak, rubber, minerals - were
plundered in gigantic quantities. The Indian textile industry was
the most advanced in the world when the British arrived; within half
a century it had been destroyed. The enslaved and indentured (at
least 20 million Africans and 1.5 million Indians) were shipped
across the globe to work on plantations, mines and railroads. The
stupendous profits deriving from this enabled today's developed
world to prosper.
The point isn't for Europeans to feel guilt, but a serious
consideration of historical responsibility isn't the same thing as a
blame game. Forgetting history is tempting but undermines a
society's capacity for change.
Among the many facile assumptions encouraged by these imperial
apologists is that those who criticise colonialism are absolving
tyrants and bigots in Asia and Africa from responsibility for their
crimes. Of course it is possible and absolutely necessary to condemn
both. Indians must acknowledge their culpability for atrocities
during the partition, for example. But that in no way exonerates the
British Raj from its pivotal role in the tragedy that led to over a
million deaths.
A wilful ignorance of other people's cultures and histories
encourages the notion that freedom, democracy and tolerance are
intrinsically western. As Amartya Sen has argued, the subcontinent
has long been home to traditions of free-thinking and debate.
Participatory governance was not Britain's gift (recall Gandhi's
indigenous village republics), even if parliamentary democracy as an
institutional form was adopted in some ex-colonies. Free trade is
another mythical western contribution to world history. Amitav Ghosh
has reconstructed the forgotten history of a vibrant trade culture
between medieval India and Africa. When the Portuguese arrived, they
demanded that the Hindu ruler of Calicut expel Muslims, "enemies of
the Holy-Faith", from his kingdom. He refused and was subjected to
two days of bombardment.
Indeed, one legacy of European colonialism that we all reckon with
is the self-fulfilling prophecy of the "clash of civilisations". The
claim that east and west are bound to come into conflict is merely
an extension of imperial practice which found it useful to seal off
porous cultures into fixed categories. This tragic "lie of the
colonial situation", as Frantz Fanon called it, rebounds on us
tragically in the terror unleashed in the name of Islam and Bush's
"war on terror". If we are to undo the destructive legacies of
empire, it won't do to invest celebratory falsifications with
credibility. To make sense of a shared present and look towards a
more humane future, we need to start with a little informed honesty
about the past.
Priyamvada Gopal
Wednesday June 28, 2006
The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk/>
(Priyamvada Gopal teaches postcolonial studies at Cambridge
University and is the author of Literary Radicalism in India:
Gender, Nation and the Transition to Independence )
pg268@cam.ac.uk <mailto:pg268@cam.ac.uk>
Letters.
(The Following letter was published in the Irish news)
Dear Sir/madam
The 26 counties government has now publicly acknowledged its British
military past by issuing for the first time a stamp commemorating
those who died during the battle of the Somme and staging a state
ceremony at the Islandbridge memorial. The event is put on the same
level as the Easter Rising, because it accepts the British claim
that the Great War fought by Britain was for "small nations to be
free"; therefore Unionists and Nationalists who participated in it
have an equal claim to be honoured by the Irish state. But the
politics of the Somme are incompatible with those of the 1916
Rising.
The new pro-Great War doctrine makes no assessment of what was at
stake, and uncritically accepts the British propaganda about "small
nations". It was a war for King and Country, for that project of
global conquest and genocide called the British Empire. The new
doctrine glosses over the false reasons that brought the
nationalists in the Great War and misrepresents the imperial
purposes of the slaughter. If we are faithful to the ideals of 1916,
we should acknowledge it as the "Crime Against Europe" as Roger
Casement and the "War against the German Nation" as did Connolly.
It is something that should be lamented, not celebrated.
Some will argue that given the significant number of Irish people
who fought in the Great War, it should be commemorated. Whether all
foreign wars in which Irish people were involved should be
commemorated is dubvious. Should we commemorate the Irish who fought
on the pro-Slavery side during the US Civil War for example?
It is interesting that the Redmondite "war against the German and
Turk" - in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) amongst other places- is
being rehabilitated at a time when the 26 counties establishment
increasingly alligns itself with the Ameranglian crusade in the
Middle East...
Liam O RUAIRC
392 Falls Road
Belfast BT 12
028 90 321 024
Dear Comrades ,
Let me ask you a serious question: There is one aim that all
communists gain for, there is the same way of getting to it: Get the
masses to follow. Now is the time to end all individual violence and
build up parties like the Batasuna did and the Sin Fein has done. I
think to get involved with the masses that are so hyped with TV
Technologys and Wealth of own living, their only chance we do have
is to cooperate with all other movements around the world to become
one voice: So get in contact with th MRTA in Peru, the EZLN in
Mexico, the CNT in Spain, and the movements in Venezuela and so on
-to connect-means to save this planet before it explodes!!
Thank you very much for reading my short thought on left wing
politics,
I think time is here for us to share and even not sharing the same
ways, we do have the same aim, so let's unite against exploitation
and environment killings!!
Please visit: www.myblog.de/loganey
www.people.freenet.de/gandhi
FRIENDSHIP,
Manu Loganey
The Chicago Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee are holding a 25th
Anniversary Dinner on the 12th of August, 2006 in memory of those
who
died on hunger strike in 1981.
We will be producing a unique commemorative journal for this event
and
would like to offer you the opportunity to have your business or
club
featured. We are expecting over 100 attendees, including several
prominent Irish-Americans, and we will feature two special guest
speakers,
plus an arts & crafts raffle.
All ads will be black and white. Ad rates are as follows:
8” x 10” Inside Front/Back Cover - $200
8” x 10” Full Page Ad - $100
5” x 8” Half Page - $50
3” x 5” Quarter Page - $25
The Deadline for ads is August 1st, 2006.
Any Group or Organisation can place an ad by following the
directions
in this e-mail, The monies raised go to the prisoners dependants so
please make a very important contribution.
Forms are available at www.wemustbeunited.com and if you need any
assistance you can contact us at (708) 655-2078 or (312) 560-9311,
or by
email: info@wemustbeunited.com.
Go raibh maith agat,
Colm Mistéil
CHSCC Chairman
www.wemustbeunited.com
Comrades,
Continuing with our celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the
Spanish
Civil War we are pleased to offer a reproduction of the Spanish
Republican flag with the International Brigades logo. The flags are
3
feet x 5 feet costing £10 each + postage and can be located on our
home
page.We also have copies of the 'Connolly Column' a book by an Irish
International Brigadier, Michael O'Riordan who recently died. RRP
£14.99
our price £12.99 + postage
Both items available on our website: www.socialistproductions.org
don't forget you can also purchase our International Brigades badge
and
t-shirt.
NO PASARAN
Robert
Catalan Solidarity: Ireland Committee
Catalan Solidarity: Ireland Committee was established to provide
practical support and solidarity to Catalan political prisoners,
their supporters as well as information on the continuing struggle
for self determination and socialism in Catalonia to challenge the
media portrayal on political militants that are being fuelled by a
regime, its media, its paramilitary forces, and mounting repressive
laws and legislations.
In order to assist these goals we have established an online news
and information service to comment on the current political
situation within Catalonia, from within the prisons and on the
streets.
As part of our work we aim to provide information events, pickets
and solidarity protests etc to highlight various campaigns and
activities and to raise awareness of the political situation in
Catalonia.
We urge both Catalans living in Ireland and other non-Catalans
across Ireland to write to Catalan Political Prisoners, offering
them both continued solidarity and support.
We intend to issue regular news, comments & activities via email by
Llibertat! ˆ Saoirse!
At present our website is under construction however, we hope that
our work will inspire you to find out more!
www.catalansolidarity.org <http://www.catalansolidarity.org/>
SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS
Llibertat! ˆ Saoirse!
E-news service of the Catalan Solidarity: Ireland Committee
To obtain this regular eservice Llibertat! ˆ Saoirse!, forward
„SUBSCRIBE‰ to the following e-mail: catalansolidarity@hotmail.com <mailto:catalansolidarity@hotmail.com>
KEVIN LYNCH COMMEMORATION SUNDAY JULY 23rd at 2.00pm Dungiven
County Derry.
All comrades to attend.
Please feel free to comment
on the contents of the Plough. We welcome political comments and
criticisms.
If you would prefer to
receive the Plough as an attachment please e-mail with heading “add
attachment”
If you know of anybody who
might wish to receive the Plough please send his or her e-mail
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or john.martinps@virgin.net
If you wish to receive back
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To unsubscribe to the
Plough please send e-mail entitled “unsubscribe” to johnmartinps@eircom.net
or john.martinps@virgin.net
It is the policy of the
Plough to acknowledge information and articles from other sources.
The Republican Socialist
Youth Movement have re-launched their website.
It can be viewed at
www.rsym.org
An Glór / The Voice
News sheet of Belfast
Republican Socialist Youth Movement
January 2007
Circulation: 400
- Brit police never
acceptable
- Maghaberry Prison protest
continues
- Assets Recovery Agency, a
question of money
- Support the Turkish death
fast
- Ard Fheis rejects any
move towards INLA decommissioning
- Volunteer Davy McNutt
RIP
http://www.rsym.org/pdf/magazines/anGlor1.pdf
The Republican Socialist
Youth Movement have produced a short video on the situation
concerning Shannon airport and its continued use by American troops
and the CIA. The video can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH0WqJb95l8
Subscribe to the bi-monthly
“The Starry Plough/An Camchéachta”
P.O. Box 1981, Derry, BT48
8GX, Ireland.
THE VOICE OF REPUBLICAN
SOCIALISM!
E-mail plough@irsm.org
The Starry Plough
http://irsm.org/irsp/starryplough
IRSP: Pairtí Poblachtach
Sóisialach na h-Éireann
http://irsm.org/
James Connolly Society
http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/
James Connolly Archive
http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly
The Republican Socialist
Forum from Derry IRSP is
http://rsmforum.proboards23.com/index.cgi
Republican Socialist Online
Merchandise - Website
A website that offers a
central place to go on the Internet to find good quality items with
a distinct Republican Socialist theme. Proceeds from sales from this
effort go towards the IRSM and it’s various projects.
http://www.angelfire.com/folk/irishshop/index.html
Donate to the IRSP:
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