The Plough
Volume 2, Number 18
20 December 2004
E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1. Editorial
2. The Third International Conference Against Isolation - IRSP Speech
3. Anglifying the Irish Republic
4. Letters
*******
EDITORIAL
The recent resignation of David Blunkett, the British Home Secretary,
while a matter of satisfaction for many on the left should also be a
warning. Blunkett was once on the extreme left of the Labour Party in
the so-called socialist republic of Sheffield. He had no difficulty
moving across the spectrum from left to right. While his approach and
thinking may have changed, the arrogance sometimes associated with
those who "have" and "know" the "truth" didn't change. It was that
arrogance that ultimately led to his having to resign. Those of us on
the left and particularly the republican left have to be mindful that
we do not assume we know it all. The fact is that within Irish
republicanism there exists the mentality that somehow being a
republican made one better than others. Left republicans suffered from
that arrogance in jails during the 1980s and 1990s from Provisional
republicans. Recently the decision by Republican Sinn Fein that they
will have nothing to do with broad fronts is another example of that
arrogance. To affiliate with others might dilute their republicanism.
Given our recent history no republican can afford the luxury of
arrogance. Following the 1956-61 armed campaign defeat, republicans
blamed the people, for allowing themselves to be distracted from the
national struggle. Today, after the armed struggle of the past 30
years has failed, it is only right for the people to blame republicans
for that defeat. No amount of spin can convert a defeat into victory.
While not actually donning sackcloth and ashes, Irish republicans can
learn humility by actually listening to the people and learning what
they think. That for some would make a change from telling the people
what to think.
*******
THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AGAINST ISOLATION
[The Third International Conference Against Isolation took place in
Berlin last week. The IRSP, and the 32 County Sovereignty
Movement/IRPWA, attended this event, in which the Basque party
Batasuna, the Turkish DHKC, and Palestinians were also present. This
speech was delivered by Liam O'Ruairc and Gerard McGarrigle.]
We would like to thank the organisers of the third international
symposium against isolation for inviting the Irish Republican
Socialist Party to contribute its analysis at this conference.
What is the political function of isolation? Isolation is a weapon
used by the prison system and the repressive apparatus of the state to
weaken political militants psychologically and physically, thus
politically. It is used to prevent the emergence of any collective
organisation attempts by the prisoners, to destroy in advance the
struggle for the collective power of those in prison, as well as their
struggle for political and human rights. For the prison system, it is
imperative to isolate those who are not afraid to speak out, the
incarcerated political cadres, those who politically and
organisationally are prepared to work for the revolutionary movement
inside the prisons. The state's policy of isolation is not simply to
destroy the prisoners, but more importantly to destroy the politics of
their struggle. It is part of a strategy to portray any resistance
against the state as criminal. The state believes that if it can break
the resistance of the prisoners, it will demoralise and weaken the
revolutionary forces on the outside.
In 1976 the British government removed the right to political status
for Irish prisoners. This was an attempt to criminalise the struggle
for national liberation and socialism, both inside and outside the
prisons. The prisoners resisted this criminalisation through a series
of protests, starting with their refusal to wear prison uniforms, the
no wash protest, and culminated in the hunger strikes of 1980/1981
which resulted in ten prisoners – three of whom were affiliated
to our movement - giving their lives. Far from breaking the prisoners,
the 1981 hunger strike showed that they remained resolute and
eventually met most of their demands at the price of their own lives.
Paradoxically, if in 1976 the British government attempted to
criminalise the republican struggle, by 1981 the republicans succeeded
in criminalising the British government. However, the gains of the
1980/1981 hunger strikes were lost with the signing of the 1998
Belfast Agreement. The 1998 treaty effectively criminalises political
resistance, as political prisoners will not be segregated from either
ordinary criminals or reactionary loyalists. The struggle of the
prisoners is thus back to square one. The Provisional Movement (loyal
to the leadership of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness) supports the
1998 treaty and states that there are no more political prisoners in
jail. The truth is that there are currently dozens of political
prisoners in Ireland, including four affiliated to our movement. One
of them is Dessie O'Hare, who has been in jail for more than twenty
years and who should have been released years ago. The Provisional
Movement celebrates the struggle of the 1980/1981 hunger strikers, and
yet is silent about the present struggle of Irish political prisoners.
It is thus complicit with the media black out regarding the prison
issue. Our movement is totally committed to the struggle of all those
prisoners, irrespective of their affiliation. You have to remember
that our prisoners have suffered from a double isolation attempt:
first that of the British state, and secondly that of the Provisional
Movement inside the prisons, which in the past attempted to destroy
any collective organisation of our prisoners by denying them their own
wing and official recognition as a group.
We regret and reject the narrow and sectarian approach of some people
and organisations and call for a united front on the prison issue. The
Irish Republican Socialist Movement argues not simply for better
prison conditions, but for the collective self-organisation of the
prisoners, for the recognition of their political and human rights,
for the construction of an effective counter power within the prisons.
What is fundamentally at stake is a political, not a humanitarian,
issue. This is not just a matter of more humane conditions of
detention but of developing a revolutionary movement inside the jails
that questions the prison system. The function of politically advanced
prisoners is similar to that of advanced workers. Advanced workers do
not simply fight for higher wages or better working conditions, but
for the abolition of capitalism, similarly politically conscious
prisoners do not fight just for better prison conditions, but for the
collective self-organisation of imprisoned working class militants and
the creation of a counter power within the prisons.
British imperialism, either in the prisons or on our streets, will not
succeed in breaking us, instead it will have an adverse effect,
strengthening our resolve to resist domination is all its forms. In
the words of Terence MacSwiney, the republican Mayor of Cork who died
on hunger strike in 1920: "We have not survived the centuries to be
conquered now."
Thank you.
*******
ANGLIFYING THE IRISH REPUBLIC
New Statesman
13 September 2004
Anglifying the Irish Republic
By Patrick West
When one hears the expression "cultural imperialism", one usually
thinks of the ubiquitous presence of Americana. Corporations such as
McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Disney are routinely charged with
trampling on indigenous industries, showing contempt for different
cultures and rendering our high streets bland, soulless clones. The
French may be the most vocal agitators in this area, but the British
are by no means averse to such protest, as the popularity of George
Monbiot and his legions of acolytes demonstrates.
However, while we grouse about the Americanisation of our culture, it
is worth remembering that the British can be cultural imperialists,
too. Eighty years after the south of Ireland finally bade farewell to
the British presence, the Brits are back. This time, the takeover is
not military, but corporate. Ireland's customs and urban landscape are
being Anglified. Much has been written in the past decade about the
economic miracle of the "Celtic Tiger". The Republic of Ireland has
been transformed in many respects — it has become more confident,
greedy and anti-clerical — but its consumer habits and the face
of its cities have also changed. This is because much of the business
in the country is now British-owned.
Take a walk through the city of Dublin (with apologies to James
Joyce). I start off at Tesco in Baggot Street. Heading west, I nip in
to a shop to purchase a packet of Walkers crisps and a copy of the
Irish Sun or Irish Mirror, before taking in a pint of Guinness
(British-owned) at the bar of the renowned Shelbourne Hotel
(British-owned). Refreshed, I continue, turning right into Dawson
Street, where I amble around Waterstone's and Hodges Figgis (both
British-owned bookshops). Then a left into Nassau Street and another
left to Grafton Street, to purchase a CD from the HMV store (British)
before getting my groceries from Marks & Spencer (ditto). While the
homogenisation of the British high street has been taking place since
the 1960s, the Anglification of the Irish high street has been much
more recent. Its most visible manifestation is the remarkable
penetration of Tesco, or "Tesco Ireland", as it brands itself. I
remember my Auntie May dragging me along, as a child in the 1980s, to
help her with her Saturday shopping at Quinnsworth or H Williams. Both
chains have now vanished, the latter having folded in 1987, the former
having been purchased by Tesco ten years later. Today, Tesco Ireland
is the largest food retailer in the republic, with more than 79
branches, employing more than 10,000 people. It has total sales of
1.79bn (pounds sterling 1.22bn) and remains in rude health: its growth
rate in 2002-2003 was 7.8 per cent.
Also back in the 1980s, a great treat for an English lad on his summer
holidays was tucking into a packet of greasy Tayto crisps. Tayto is
perceived to be as Irish as the Blarney Stone. Yet the firm has since
come under acute competition from Walkers. Walkers, starting in 2000,
rapidly made its mark in the crisps market and is now second only to
Tayto. Its aim is to take top spot, and it has the funds to do so,
spending 855,000 (pounds sterling 581,000) a year on advertising,
compared to Tayto's 778,000 (pounds sterling 528,000). Tesco's good
fortune has been mirrored by that of Boots the Chemist, which opened
its first Irish branch in 1998. Having purchased the HCR chain, it is
now the leading chemist chain in the republic, employing 1,200 staff
across 28 branches. More modest inroads have been made by Marks &
Spencer, which has four stores. Considering, however, the difficulties
M & S is having at home, not to mention its retreat from other foreign
markets, it is surprising that it has any presence at all in Ireland.
Elsewhere, both HMV and Virgin have opened outlets, providing
competition for the country's independent record shops and its
indigenous chain Golden Discs. BT's progress has been even more
impressive. It acquired the Esat Group in 2000, renaming itself "Esat
BT", and is now second only to Eircom in the country's
telecommunications industry. For a company that is manifestly British,
this is no mean feat.
Yet perhaps these developments are not so new. After all, since the
creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, its people have remained
resiliently British in their cultural appetites. The attempted
Gaelicisation of the country was a dismal failure. Newspapers such as
the News of the World and the Observer continued to muster a
substantial number of Irish readers, and the BBC came to be regarded
as an honorary home broadcaster, while Manchester United, Liverpool
and Celtic are perceived as honorary domestic clubs. This is not
something that many of an Anglophobic disposition have been keen to
admit, indulging instead in what Freud called the : narcissism of
minor differences": exaggerating trivial distinctions in order to mask
very obvious similarities.
Far from the ties with British culture gradually withering after
independence, as the founders of the Irish Free State hoped, the
reverse has taken place. There are now more than 180 British companies
operating in the republic. British cultural imperialism makes the two
countries ever more similar, and not just in where people go to shop
and what they buy.
Thanks to the British media invasion, it also involves what they read
and thus how they think. The success of Express Newspapers' Irish
edition of the Daily Star in the 1990s prompted Trinity Mirror and
News International to rebrand their Dublin editions as the Irish Daily
Mirror and the Irish Sun. The Irish News of the World followed, while
the Dublin edition of the Sunday Times commands a big readership. The
repackaging has been a triumph for all three media organisations, with
the Mirror selling 200,000 a day and the Sun close to 300,000 --
easily outselling the Irish Times and Irish Independent. Although
these titles do address domestic issues (and, since May, even Sky News
has been broadcasting special Irish bulletins), there is still
substantial coverage of British affairs. Some will regret this
development. Yet if it leads to better service and cheaper prices for
the consumer, surely it is not all bad. One may even look at it
positively on a cultural level, in that market forces are helping to
bring the two nations closer together. It's not as if the traffic were
all one-way. Manchester United is partly Irish-owned, Dunnes Stores
has several outlets in the north of England, Eason owns a 50-strong
chain of bookshops in Britain and the Independent is the property of
an Irishman. Still, I suspect that the likes of Padraic Pearse and
Eamon de Valera would have been horrified. To aesthetes and cultural
purists, this development is an abomination. But it should serve as a
reminder to those in Britain with an anti-American fixation, who
deplore the idea of taking their children to McDonald's to drink
Coca-Cola, that when it comes to cultural imperialism, Uncle Sam is
not the only culprit.
*******
LETTERS
*
Dear Comrades,
The Republican Resistance Calendar 2005, is on sale from the IRPWA
office in Derry.
Cost £7-00 inclu P&P.
Send Postal Orders to:
IRPWA
34B William Street
Derry City
Co Derry
Ireland
For further payment details telephone:
(00 44) 02871 261 063.
The office is opened Monday to Friday 11am till 3pm.
*
"How Northern Donors Promote Corruption: Tales From the New
Mozambique"
by Joseph Hanlon
Corner House Briefing Paper 33
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/
Corruption is a worldwide and age-old phenomenon. In recent years,
Northern aid donors have become more and more vocal about the need for
Southern countries to clean themselves up. Yet they have refused to
change their own policies that encourage corruption, particularly
those policies requiring economic liberalisation and cutting back on
state expenditure and responsibilities.
In Mozambique, corruption was almost non-existent in the 1970s but
grew to high levels during the 1990s. At least two forms of corruption
-- "state capture" (taking control of ministries, judiciary or
regulatory agencies for personal or business interests) and
"administrative corruption" (making unofficial payments to get
officials to flout or to apply existing laws, rules and regulations)
-- are now rampant in the country.
Joseph Hanlon of the Open University, UK, who has written extensively
on Mozambique for over 20 years, outlines how increasing intervention
by international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, and
bilateral aid donors in support of economic liberalisation is one of
the primary causes of this growth in corruption.
Adding to the process have been tacit alliances between aid donors and
a section of the Mozambican elite.
Corner House Briefing Paper 33, "How Northern Donors Promote
Corruption: Tales From the New Mozambique" by Joseph Hanlon, is now on
The Corner House website on the home page,
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/ and in the briefings section.
Please contact us enquiries@thecornerhouse.org.uk if you would like to
receive a 12-page printed paper copy.
best regards
Larry Lohmann/Susan Hawley/Sarah Sexton/Nicholas Hildyard
The Corner House
*
Comrades,
An estimated 150-170 People attended the IRSP organised Christmas
benefit function in aid of republican socialist POWs and their
families in Saints and Sinners Public House, Dublin on Sat Dec 18th.
The well supported event was attended by family members of current
POW's incarcerated in Portlaoise and Castlerea, there was also a
number of ex-POWs present, including recently released Kevin
McLaughlin and Christy Magee. Balladeers on the night were up and
coming republican band Beggars Bush.
The main event of the night was the sponsored hair shaving where IRSP
members, ex-POWs and supporters had from a head shave to a chest and
beard shave, the barber on the night was ex-POW Gerard Wright, who
later made a presentation on the night to life long republican
socialist Tony Hade (Dublin).
The sponsored hair shaving event was followed by an auction of a
Portlaoise bodhran and a painting of Michael Collins, which was
donated by well-known local artist and great character Mr Eddie
Garland. Both items combined raised a total of 320 euro. Then followed
the fundraising draw for a number of items of prison craft, the result
of which are as follows:
1st Prize: Portlaoise Mirror tkt 0971: Brook O'Connor, Dublin
2nd Prize: Portlaoise Bodhran tkt 0148: N. Webb Co Ted, Derry IRSP
3rd Prize: Portlaoise Prison Craft tkt 0757: Sean O'Neil, Dublin
4th Prize: Castlerea Irish Harp tkt 0480: 48 Kevin Barry Flats, Dublin
5th Prize: Celtic Clock tkt 0824: Emma Clarke, Dublin
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made this
benefit night a brilliant success, especially those who sold tickets,
raised sponsorship money and had there hair shaved, and to those who
attended and financially contributed to the benefit night, and a
special thanks to the management and staff of Saints and Sinners
Public House for there warm hospitality on the night. In or around
three and a half thousand Euro was raised, which perhaps is the most
prolific fundraising event in the thirty year history of the Irish
Republican Socialist Party, fair play to all concerned. Photos of the
event will be posted on to the forum in the next few days.
Is Mise, John Murtagh
*
New Hands Off Venezuela website
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/
*
FINANCIAL APPEAL:
We ask you to make a special donation to support our human rights and
campaigning work
Donations payable to Colombia Solidarity Campaign and send to Colombia
Solidarity Campaign, PO Box 8446, London N17 6NZ
Many thanks.
Colombia Solidarity Campaign
PO Box 8446
London N17 6NZ
Tel: 07743 743041
Email: colombia_sc@hotmail.com
http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/
*******
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*
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Monday 20 December 2004
Friday 10 December 2004
The Plough Vol 02 No 17
The Plough
Volume 2, Number 17
10 December 2004
E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1. Editorial
2. Half of Kids Suffer War and Poverty
3. Water Tax: Who is the Real Victim?
4. Old Bailey Bomber Ashamed of Sinn Fein
5. From the Newspapers
6. Letters
7. What's On
*******
EDITORIAL
So after all the talks after all the to-ing and fro-ing there is still
no deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein. Frankly we are not surprised.
Paisley has spent his entire political and religious life ranting and
raving against nationalists and Catholics. He has incited young
working class Protestants to violent acts and he has colluded with
loyalist murderers. Those republicans who still adhere to the basic
tenets of republicanism as outlined by Wolfe Tone can see no way that
any self-respecting republican can envisage serving in a government
under Paisley control. Nor should any republican give credibility to
segregation. We have in the Six Counties segregated housing,
segregated jobs, and segregated communities. This segregation is given
credence by the Good Friday Agreement itself. The power sharing nature
of that agreement puts people into two boxes, unionist and
nationalist. The very structures established under the GFA legitimise
sectarianism.
We have said consistently and persistently that the six county state
is irreformable. Every attempted effort to establish a stable
administration here since 1972, that is 32 years of effort, has
failed. Any new power sharing arrangement will also fail and in the
process to establish it sectarianism will be strengthened. No
republican, no socialist can accept that.
It is imperative that efforts are re-doubled to forge class unity
between workers from all backgrounds and that republicans win the
argument that the interests of all the people can be best served by
the establishment of a socialist republic.
*******
HALF OF KIDS SUFFER WAR AND POVERTY
AIDS UNICEF report blames governments for permanent damage
More than half the world's children are suffering the effects of
poverty, war and HIV/AIDS, denying them a healthy and safe childhood,
UNICEF's annual report said Thursday.* The United Nations children's
fund report on The State of the World's Children found more than 1
billion children were growing up hungry and unhealthy, schools had
become targets for warring parties and whole villages were being
killed off by AIDS. Compiled by UNICEF and researchers at the London
School of Economics and Bristol University, the report found more than
half the children in developing countries lived in poverty without
access to basic goods and services.
It also said:
* One in six children was severely hungry.
* One in seven had no access to health care.
* One in five had no safe water.
* One in three had no toilet or sanitation facilities at home.
The report found 640 million children did not have adequate shelter;
300 million had no access to information such as TV, radio or
newspapers and 140 million children, the majority of them girls, had
never been to school.
Poverty was not confined to developing countries, the report said, as
the proportion of children living in low-income households in 11 of 15
industrialized nations rose in the past decade. More than 10 million
child deaths were recorded in 2003, with an estimated 29,158 children
under 5 dying from mostly preventable causes everyday. UNICEF reported
conflict around the world had seriously injured or permanently
disabled millions of children, while millions more endured sexual
violence, trauma, hunger and disease caused by wars. Nearly half of
the 3.6 million people killed in conflict during the 1990s were
children and around 20 million children were forced from their homes
and communities by fighting. UNICEF said almost half a million
children under 15 died of AIDS in 2003, while another 630,000 children
were infected with HIV. By 2003 some 2.1 million children under 15
were living with HIV/AIDS, most of whom were infected during
pregnancy, birth or through breast-feeding. From 2001 to 2003, the
number of children who had lost one or both parents to AIDS rose from
11.5 million to 15 million and around 80 percent of those were living
in sub-Saharan Africa. The UNICEF report said the world had the
capacity to reduce poverty, conflict and HIV/AIDS and improve the
plight of the world's children. It said Millennium Development Goals,
which aim to improve the world through human development by 2015 and
were agreed to by the U.N.'s 191 member states in 2000, could be
achieved at an annual cost of $40-$70 billion. In comparison, world
spending on military in 2003 was $956 billion. Bellamy said the
quality of a child's life depended on decisions made by the global
community and the world's governments. "We must make those decisions
wisely and with children's best interests in mind. If we fail to
secure childhood, we fail to reach our larger, global goals for human
rights and economic development," she said.
(From - LONDON, England (Associated Press))
*******
WATER TAX: WHO IS THE REAL VICTIM?
By Charlie Clarke
The issue of water tax is a very complex one. It can be difficult to
understand and comprehend, but I will explain it as simplistically as
I can. Although there is a wide spread awakening to the issue of the
water tax throughout the province, I can see that there are some
problems facing the campaign, and if left can be detrimental to any
action that the campaign may endorse in the future.
One of the obstacles standing in the way of the success of the
campaign is poor attendance at the arranged meetings. This I believe
is for two reasons:
1. That the working class community are afraid of the consequences of
standing up to the government and refusing to pay for the water.
2. The working class community have been lured into the false sense of
security that it won't happen for a while yet.
The community needs to be educated on the seriousness of the Water Tax
with a series of educational flyers or documents BEFORE we invite them
to any such arranged meeting. Public interest and distaste at the
proposed tax needs to be aroused first and foremost as this cannot be
seen to be any one party or individual trying to achieve political or
personal gain from the hardship of the working class victim of this
levy.
The statutory bodies that are dripping this information out to the
public are playing a cat and mouse game with us. They are listening
to the public opinion and are forming their plans around that. We
need to be careful. The other fact is that there are other political
parties that support the implementation of such levies on the working
classes (PSF, SDLP included!) and are cleverly working in the
background with the information that they are receiving from these
meetings. ALL of the political parties involved in this so-called
'Good Friday Agreement' have signed up to the principle of the water
tax. No matter what public stance these parties seem to take, they
have and will continue to endorse the Water Tax. In fact, the parties
here are hoping that the direct rule situation that we are in at
present will implement this for them!
So with the political parties of the GFA against us, who is going to
support and assist us? Who is going to organise and maintain such a
campaign against this tax? What directions are we going to take in
order to successfully fight this and win? There are so many
unanswered questions that need to be put to the people of our areas
before we can win their support for this campaign. The working class
community need to be convinced that there WILL be support for them on
the ground and that they are not going to be abandoned by any of the
campaigns that are asking for their support. They need to be
truthfully told and informed of the consequences that such a campaign
can bring. People will go to jail, ordinary working class people!
This cannot be distorted or brushed under the carpet! People are
going to receive severe fines and penalties for non-payment of their
bills, and this will eventually result in imprisonment. Failure to
inform the working classes of this will bring the campaign crashing
around our knees and the imperialist will have won. There will be
some of us who will experience imprisonment for this cause but what we
have to remember is that THEY CANNOT JAIL US ALL!
We need to have strategies and counter strategies in place. We need
to have contingency and back up plans so that we may tackle every
thing that the government throws our way. Families are going to have
to be supported in the event that incarceration occurs. We have had
to do just that before, so there must be no change to the eligibility
of this assistance. If a member of a household is incarcerated for
non-payment of their water tax because the campaign has called for
them to do so, then their family needs to be financially supported.
This needs to be addressed. People need to be convinced that this is
a honourable cause. We can lie down and allow the politicians and the
government to walk all over us, to implement the taxes that they wish
and allow them to privatise the human rights of the working classes.
Who is going to pay us for it? Who is going to subsidise us for the
extra expenses that we will inevitably have to pay out? Our incomes
are to remain the same but we are expected to pay out more than we can
afford. It is only by refusing to conform to their wishes that we are
going to win. We must rise together and stand against this
imperialism that is oppressing us.
The working classes are the targets for this new tax. We already pay
for our water through the rates that we pay to the city council.
Household water bills averaging at £340 per year will begin coming
through your door in 1st April 2006. Yet we already pay for our water
through our rates - 37% of our rates bill already goes to the Water
Service. Here are a few facts concerning the proposed Water Tax.
1. NO household will be exempt from water charges. Families on
benefits, pensioners and those on low income will still be forced to
pay 75% of their water bills.
2. Much needed investment in water & sewerage can be found without
additional domestic water charges.
3. The water tax will do nothing for the environment or to safe guard
water supplies.
4. A new water company is being set up. This will be sold to big
business to maximise private profit from public charges.
5. The water tax can be defeated - the poll tax was defeated in 1990
and in Dublin water charges were abolished - both defeated by a mass
campaign of non-payment.
The truth surrounding the whole issue is that we will be forced to pay
for this over and over again. It is a double tax. We are paying for
it in our rates, we will be paying for it with the water tax, and we
will be forced to pay increases in prices by small and big businesses
that are also going to have to pay this levy; e.g. the ladies haircut
that normally cost £30 will inevitably cost more as the hairdresser
will have to pay for the water that they have to use so liberally,
etc. All business will be affected by this new tax, and in the rules
of trading it is the consumer that pays for rent, wage, tax increases
etc. Profit margins will remain the same so the additional revenue
has to come from somewhere. It will be left to the working classes to
foot the bill for everybody.
Why should we pay for this when the government are upgrading the water
service and the sewerage to sell it off to the big business for
profit? Companies are buying up the rights to all the water in the
world. They are buying the rights to the rain! Farmers are being
taxed for collecting rainwater in barrels, and from fetching water
from streams. It is ridiculous and it is a breach of our human
rights. Water is a human right! It is the essence of life itself!
What gives the 'fat cat' the right to sell to us what doesn't belong
to him in the first place! What is next? Privatising the air?
There are no easy answers to this problem. No quick fix solutions
that will eradicate the plans of the government and stop them from
enforcing this charge upon the working class. They will use the
excuses that they are not charging for the water, but are merely
charging for the use of their services and systems. This is a lie!
37% of your rates bill pays for the use of sewerage and water
supplies! This goes directly to the Water Service. They will
threaten that the revenue needed for this will not be found by any
other means and that failure to pay this by levy will result in a
reduction in budgets for the already under funded schools and
hospitals owned by the government. Why then can it not come from the
massive defence budget?
They say that they cannot find the money elsewhere. Why can they not
reduce the ridiculously high salaries of the MPs and the MLAs who
represent their government and put it towards the cost, instead of
endorsing ludicrous pay rises for the already highly overpaid fat
cats? The reason is that they don't want to and that they don't have
to. The working classes will pay.
The water companies that will buy over the water and sewerage
provision will also advocate the turning off of supply to your home in
the event of non-payment. They will restrict you from having your
human right to water. The Anti-Poverty Network states that if you do
not have access to clean running water then you are in serious
poverty. These multi-national companies will do just that!
The government is saying that we are so worthless and insignificant
that we do not have the right to water. They are saying that if we
refuse to pay for it then they will disconnect our services, they will
impose heavy fines and they will eventually imprison us! WE are the
only people who can fight this and WIN! In order to do that though,
we must join together and support the Anti-Water Tax campaign.
*******
OLD BAILEY BOMBER ASHAMED OF SINN FEIN
Village
7 December 2004
Old Bailey Bomber Ashamed of Sinn Fein
By Suzanne Breen
A well-dressed, articulate, middle-aged woman, Marian Price wouldn't
look out of place on a Sinn Féin negotiating team meeting Tony
Blair or Bertie Ahern.
But she'd face jail and hunger-strike all over again rather than take
part: "I would be ashamed to be on any delegation to Downing Street
given what's on the table. The only reason for going there should be
to negotiate the freedom of our country.
"If I went to agree to British rule, restoring Stormont, or signing up
to a partitionist police force, I'd hope at least to have the decency
to hang my head in shame."
The last time Price visited London was to blow it up. With her sister
Dolours and Gerry Kelly, now a Sinn Féin negotiator, she was part
of an 11-strong IRA unit which in March 1973 planted bombs at the Old
Bailey, New Scotland Yard, Whitehall, and the British Forces
Broadcasting Office.
They were arrested attempting to fly home from Heathrow Airport. A
200-day hunger-strike and force-feeding regime made the sisters
household names. "I did what I believed in," Price says. "Nothing
Provisional IRA or Sinn Féin leaders do can denigrate that.
"But I'm very angry when I see so much has been sacrificed for so
little. All these lives have been lost - IRA volunteers, civilians,
policemen, British soldiers - and for what? If this is what they're
settling for, we all could have joined the SDLP back then."
Price (50) came from a staunch republican family in West Belfast. She
believes IRA membership is too often explained away as an emotional
response to events: "I made an ideological choice to join. It wasn't a
reaction to Bloody Sunday, internment or anything else."
Her childhood ambition was to be a nurse. She left school with a
string of 'O' and 'A' levels and secured one of only five places on a
course at the Royal Victoria Hospital. She denies there was a huge
contradiction between IRA membership and nursing.
"One day, a wounded British soldier was brought into casualty. He was
wearing a dirty vest. He looked frightened. I felt very sorry for him.
That night, I told my comrades and one joked that I should have
finished him off.
"I asked why on earth I'd do that. He was no longer a soldier, he'd
been taken out of the battlefield. He was a patient now, I'd have no
difficulty looking after him."
The bombing mission was the Provisional IRA's first to England. The
idea and planning came from the sisters. Price travelled on the
Dublin-Liverpool ferry with one of the four car bombs which was then
driven to London.
Did she never consider the morality of planting bombs in densely
populated areas?: "The warnings given were twice as long as in
Belfast. That was a conscious decision because we knew the English
lacked experience of evacuation. We didn't want civilian casualties,
from a moral or pragmatic viewpoint."
Yet there were casualties. Two bombs were defused but those at the Old
Bailey and Whitehall exploded, injuring 200 people, mainly with flying
glass. Price expresses regret but says the injuries "weren't
intentional."
"I've never had a sleepless night over anything I've done as an IRA
volunteer. Bombs are weapons of war. Western states have used them far
more brutally than we ever did.
"George Bush and Tony Blair send other people's sons out to die
without ever venturing onto the battlefield themselves. They drop far
bigger bombs from B52s on women and children and they don't give any
warnings at all."
Price is an atheist: "When I look around the world, I think if there's
a God, he's a bad God."
After her arrest at Heathrow, she was interrogated for five days. "I
was stripped in the police station and given a grey blanket to wear. I
was embarrassed because there were a lot of policemen about and I was
sexually innocent.
"They used no physical violence but I wasn't let sleep once. The
lights were kept on in my cell and the police were there at all times.
If I started to doze off, they clapped their hands."
She remained remarkably unfazed: "I remember a detective saying to me,
'I bet your mother will be proud of you' and I thought 'yes, she will
be very proud of me.' My father was on a bombing mission to England in
the forties, so it was a family tradition."
The sisters were charged and moved to Brixton Prison. They were
strip-searched daily and locked 23-hours a day in cells where again
the lights were permanently on.
As a 19-year-old facing potential life imprisonment in England, wasn't
she depressed?: "It never entered my head. I'd known what I believed
in and the risks involved.
"My mother, her sisters, and my granny had been in Cumann na mBan. My
Aunt Bridie was badly injured lifting an IRA arms dump in the 30s. It
exploded and she lost her hands and sight. She was 26.
"When we were growing up, it was never a case of 'poor Bridie.' We
were just proud of her sacrifice. She came home from hospital to a wee
house with an outside toilet, no social worker, no disability
allowance, and no counselling. She just got on with it."
Price claims that during their 1973 trial, the bombers learned they
had been compromised by a high-placed informer in Belfast who knew all
the details but didn't take part in the operation.
"It emerged in court that customs at Liverpool realised one of the
cars had false number plates. They phoned Scotland Yard but were told
to wave it through.
"The authorities allowed the bombs to happen. They had details of the
operation in advance that could only have come from a senior figure in
Belfast. We learned that photos of Dolours and I had been circulated
at airports and ports across Britain nine hours before the bombs
exploded," says Price.
She claims that during the trial they agreed it would be less damaging
for the IRA if they appeared "young, stupid and incompetent," rather
than publicly exposing an informer. She claims to know the identity of
the alleged informer whom, she says, remains in a leadership
position.
The Price sisters, Gerry Kelly and Hugh Feeney went on hunger-strike
in Brixton Prison in November 1973 as part of a campaign to be
repatriated to serve their sentences in Northern Ireland.
"Four male prison officers tie you into the chair so tightly with
sheets you can't struggle," says Price. "You clench your teeth to try
to keep your mouth closed but they push a metal spring device around
your jaw to prise it open.
"They force a wooden clamp with a hole in the middle into your mouth.
Then, they insert a big rubber tube down that. They hold your head
back. You can't move.
"They throw whatever they like into the food mixer - orange juice,
soup, or cartons of cream if they want to beef up the calories. They
take jugs of this gruel from the food mixer and pour it into a funnel
attached to the tube.
"The force-feeding takes 15 minutes but it feels like forever. You're
in control of nothing. You're terrified the food will go down the
wrong way and you won't be able to let them know because you can't
speak or move. You're frightened you'll choke to death."
Price was force-fed 400 times over six months. "I knew nothing about
force-feeding beforehand," says Price. "I thought it was like when you
hold a baby's nose and put a spoon in its mouth. Ignorance was
bliss."
After the sisters went on hunger-strike, the British Home Office
dispatched eminent psychiatrist Peter Scott to examine them. "He said
he'd been sent to certify us so we could be force-fed. He left saying
we knew exactly what we were doing and the problem was we were too
sane," Price says.
They built a good rapport with Dr Ian Blythe, the prison doctor: "He
called us 'my girls.' As the hunger-strike went on, he arm-wrestled
with us, pretending it was a game but really testing us to see how
much we were weakening."
Dolours was first to be force fed, three weeks into the
hunger-strike.
"I met her in the exercise yard afterwards. She was in a terrible
state. She said it she couldn't go through that again. I told her she
didn't have to, she could come off the hunger-strike immediately, but
I'd stay on.
"She said we'd come off together or not at all. She was much braver
than me because she was so much more afraid of force-feeding yet she
didn't give in." Two days later, Marian was force-fed.
While Dolours endured the procedure once a day, Marian suffered it
twice daily because she vomited so often afterwards. "I always threw
up when they pulled the tube out of my stomach. It was vile. I would
be exhausted afterwards but you couldn't even lie in bed in your cell
in privacy because the screws came in with you.
"Sometimes when they arrived to force feed me, I would struggle; other
times I didn't have the energy to fight. The low point was having no
control over your weight. But not for one minute did I think of giving
up. They were never, ever going to break me."
One day, a doctor put the tube into Price's lung, not her stomach, and
water flooded in. "I felt like I was drowning. I passed out. They
carried me back to my cell. The doctors were standing over me when I
came round. If had been food, not water in the tube, it would have
killed me. The medical and prison staff told the authorities they
wouldn't force feed me again."
A fortnight after that incident in May 1974, the hunger-strike ended
and a deal was reached. The sisters were moved to Armagh Prison the
following March.
The British Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, was loathed by republicans
for his treatment of the hunger-strikers. Price says she doesn't hate
him: "He was caught up in the politics of the situation. He followed
orders. I once asked the psychiatrist Peter Scott who knew him to
invite him to Brixton to visit us. He said he wouldn't come because if
he met us, he'd want to send us home."
Price was freed after five years in Armagh Jail, suffering from
anorexia and tuberculosis. Ten-and-a-half stone when she was arrested,
she left prison half that weight.
On release from jail, she says she was in no physical or mental state
to rejoin the IRA and had no interest in a Sinn Féin career: "I
like politics but not politicians. To be a politician, you must be a
liar and a hypocrite."
Still, she was initially positive about Sinn Féin’s rise,
believing it would strengthen the IRA campaign: "I remember watching
TV as Sinn Féin swept down the stairs in Belfast City Hall with
Tricolour ribbons and champagne after an election victory.
"My father was disgusted. He pointed to Gerry Adams and said, 'I've
been around longer than you, that boy will sell you out.' I told him
to give Sinn Féin a chance. I was wrong."
From 1994, Price had "serious concerns" about the leadership's
political direction but "loyalty to the movement" kept her quiet.
Eventually, she spoke at one 'republican family' meeting in West
Belfast, expressing doubts. A senior IRA member visited her home: "He
told me what I was saying wasn't appreciated and he'd shot people for
less."
She claims the Republican Movement underwent a transformation: "People
began to make financial gain from the movement. Those who had never
worked a day in their lives, now had better homes, cars, and holidays
than their neighbours.
"It used to be what you could do for the movement, now it's what the
movement can do for you. In the past, to be a republican brought
financial hardship. But that was okay because to be a republican was
to be something special. You knew you were right."
Price says that while the peace process has secured "a measure of
equality" for Catholics, a British withdrawal and the ending of
partition is further away than ever.
Five years ago, she joined the 32 County Sovereignty Movement which
security sources say is the Real IRA's political wing, a claim the
group denies. She says her military days are over but she won't
condemn others "for doing what I did myself."
She claims 'armed struggle' is morally justified "while the British
occupy part of this country." The Real IRA has proved itself incapable
of waging a sustained campaign against the state and lacks popular
support. Physical force republicanism has never been weaker in recent
decades.
Price refuses to recognise 'armed struggle' is now pointless:
"Sometimes it's necessary to do something just to let it be known
there are people out there who don't accept the status quo.
"Being a minority of a minority is nothing new for republicans. You
don't join for an easy life or to be popular. As a child, I remember
50 people at an Easter parade on the Falls Road."
Despite everything, she has no regrets: "Disappointments maybe. I'm
disappointed in Gerry Kelly. I expected more of him but I'd never
detract from the physical bravery he showed. Gerry Adams and I were
once friends. We certainly aren't now. He may have difficulty
admitting his IRA past but I'm very, very proud of mine."
.
Reprinted from IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/
*******
FROM THE NEWSPAPERS
*
London Guardian
7 December 2004
PEOPLE POWER
By Mark Almond
People Power is on track to score another triumph for western values
in Ukraine. Over the last 15 years, the old Soviet bloc has witnessed
recurrent fairy tale political upheavals. These modern morality tales
always begin with a happy ending. But what happens to the people once
People Power has won?
The upheaval in Ukraine is presented as a battle between the people
and Soviet-era power structures. The role of western cold war-era
agencies is taboo. Poke your nose into the funding of the lavish
carnival in Kiev, and the shrieks of rage show that you have touched a
neuralgic point of the New World Order.
All politics costs money, and the crowd scenes broadcast daily from
Kiev cost big bucks. Market economics may have triumphed, but if
Milton Friedman were to remind the recipients of free food and drink
in Independence Square that "there is no such thing as a free lunch",
he would doubtless be branded a Stalinist. Few seem to ask what the
people paying for People Power want in return for sponsoring all those
rock concerts. As an old cold war swagman, who carried tens of
thousands of dollars to Soviet-bloc dissidents alongside much better
respected academics, perhaps I can cast some light on what a Romanian
friend called "our clandestine period". Too many higher up the food
chain of People Power seem reticent about making full disclosure.
Nowadays, we can goggle the names of foundations such as America's
National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and a myriad surrogates funding
Ukraine's Pora movement or "independent" media. But unless you know
the NED's James Woolsey was also head of the CIA 10 years ago, are you
any wiser?
Throughout the 1980s, in the build-up to 1989's velvet revolutions, a
small army of volunteers - and, let's be frank, spies - co-operated to
promote what became People Power. A network of interlocking
foundations and charities mushroomed to organise the logistics of
transferring millions of dollars to dissidents. The money came
overwhelmingly from NATO states and covert allies such as "neutral"
Sweden.
It is true that not every penny received by dissidents came from
taxpayers. The US billionaire, George Soros, set up the Open Society
Foundation. How much it gave is difficult to verify, because Mr Soros
promotes openness for others, not himself.
Engels remarked that he saw no contradiction between making a million
on the stock market in the morning and spending it on the revolution
in the afternoon. Our modern market revolutionaries are now inverting
that process. People beholden to them come to office with the power to
privatise. The hangover from People Power is shock therapy. Each
successive crowd is sold a multimedia vision of Euro-Atlantic
prosperity by western-funded "independent" media to get them on the
streets. No one dwells on the mass unemployment, rampant insider
dealing, growth of organised crime, prostitution and soaring death
rates in successful People Power states. In 1989, our security
services honed an ideal model as a mechanism for changing regimes,
often using genuine volunteers. Dislike of the way communist states
constrained ordinary people's lives led me into undercover work, but
witnessing mass pauperisation and cynical opportunism in the 1990s
bred my disillusionment.
Of course, I should have recognised the symptoms of corruption
earlier. Back in the 1980s, our media portrayed Prague dissidents as
selfless academics who were reduced to poverty for their principles,
when they were in fact receiving $600-monthly stipends. Now they sit
in the front row of the new Euro-Atlantic ruling class. The dowdy
do-gooder who seemed so devoted to making sure that every penny of her
"charity" money got to a needy recipient is now a facilitator for
investors in our old stamping grounds. The end of history was the
birth of consultancy.
Grown cynical, the dissident types who embezzled the cash to fund,
say, a hotel in the Buda hills did less harm than those that launched
politico-media careers. In Poland, the ex-dissident Adam Michnik's
Agora media empire - worth EUR400m today - grew out of the underground
publishing world of Solidarity, funded by the CIA in the 1980s. His
newspapers now back the war in Iraq, despite its huge unpopularity
among Poles. Meanwhile, from the shipyard workers who founded
Solidarity in 1980 to the Kolubara miners of Serbia, who proclaimed
their town "the Gdansk of Serbia" in October 2000, millions now have
plenty of time on their hands to read about their role in history.
People Power is, it turns out, more about closing things than creating
an open society. It shuts factories but, worse still, minds. Its
advocates demand a free market in everything - except opinion. The
current ideology of New World Order ideologues, many of whom are
renegade communists, is Market-Leninism - that combination of a
dogmatic economic model with Machiavellian methods to grasp the levers
of power. Today's only superpower uses its old cold war weapons, not
against totalitarian regimes, but against governments that Washington
has tired of. Tiresome allies such as Shevardnadze in Georgia did
everything the US wanted, but forgot the Soviet satirist Ilf's wisdom:
"It doesn’t matter whether you love the Party. It matters whether
the Party loves you." Georgia is of course a link in the chain of
pipelines bringing central Asian oil and gas to NATO territory via
Ukraine, of all places. Such countries' rulers should beware. Fifty
years ago, Zbigniew Brzezinski argued that the "politics of the
permanent purge" typified Soviet communism. Yet now he is always on
hand to demand People Power topple yesterday's favourite in favour of
a new "reformer".
"People Power" was coined in 1986, when Washington decided Ferdinand
Marcos had to go. But it was events in Iran in 1953 that set the
template. Then, Anglo-American money stirred up anti-Mossadeq crowds
to demand the restoration of the Shah. The New York Times's
correspondent trumpeted the victory of the people over communism, even
though he had given $50,000 and the CIA-drafted text of the
anti-Mossadeq declaration to the coup leaders himself.
Is today's official version of People Power similarly economical with
the truth?
[Mark Almond is lecturer in modern history at Oriel College, Oxford]
mpalmond@aol.com
*
Sunday Business Post
5 December 2004
THE DYNAMICS OF IRISH POLITICS
By Vincent Brown
There are huge inequalities in health, as evidenced by the differences
in mortality rates between rich and poor, and massive neglect of the
most marginalised; mental patients, travellers, refugees, prisoners.
There are enormous problems in education, particularly in primary
education, where deep disadvantage is compounded. There are huge
problems in housing, and unfairness through and through in the legal
system, notably in the criminal justice system. All the opposition can
do on these issues is whine a little, because they are fettered by the
constrains of the set agenda: low tax, low public spending, alarm over
crime. Nobody dares to campaign for a different agenda - and for a
simple reason: it would not yield results quickly enough.
The objective is to get into government after the next election, and
this cannot be accomplished by confronting the prevailing political
culture.
Changing that culture would take a decade at least. By then the
socialists will be 70 (remember the 1960s slogan 'the seventies will
be socialist'?) and the chance of ministerial office lost to the
present aspirants. But there is no point to ministerial office other
than to make radical changes.
*
That's the whole point of republican socialist politics. We are going
against the grain of prevailing political culture and we are not going
to let ourselves be fettered by the constrains of the set agenda. But
we hope that this happens before the socialists will turn 70.
*******
LETTERS
*
Statement by John Carr, General Secretary, Irish National Teachers'
Organization, on Educational Disadvantage.
3 December 2004
INTO Publishes Survey Results on Disadvantaged Schools.
The INTO has released the results of a survey of almost 300 of the
country's most disadvantaged schools. The survey was conducted during
the months of October and November this year and replies were received
from a total of 289 schools representing over 3,600 teachers. The
results point to major difficulties in the areas of staffing, special
needs, funding and attendance. Teachers also identified key resource
provisions that must be implemented in order to combat problems in
these areas. "The results show the extent of the challenge facing the
Department to increase provision for the disadvantaged in line with
government policy to promote social inclusion. Without concerted
action at school based level the cycle of poverty and educational
disadvantage will not be broken," said John Carr.
Under the new system of allocating special needs teachers to schools
proposed by the previous Minister for Education and Science more than
over a third of the country's disadvantaged schools were set to lose
teachers. The survey showed that 117 schools would lose teachers
compared to 102 that would gain. There was no change in provision for
the remainder of schools. "This shows that the new Minister, Mary
Hanafin was correct to order a review of the system," said John Carr.
"It is totally unacceptable that the most disadvantaged schools in the
country would suffer a loss of teachers for children with special
needs. The INTO welcomes the commitment of the current Minister to
ensure that no child would lose resources to which they are currently
entitled."
Teacher turnover in disadvantaged schools is a major problem. Only
about a quarter of all teachers in disadvantaged schools have been in
their schools for more than twenty years. About 45% of teachers have
less than five years' experience. Over the past two years there has
been an annual turnover of ten percent of teachers each year. "During
the past five years there has been an exodus of teachers from
disadvantaged schools," said Carr. "This clear out is a huge loss of
valuable experience to these schools and new ways have got to be found
to encourage teachers to remain in these schools. A salary allowance
for teachers in disadvantaged schools and increased professional
development opportunities should be among the Minister's priorities."
One result of this turnover is that many of the teaching posts were
filled by persons with no teaching qualifications. Although this has
improved in the last year the survey shows that there are still 37
persons with no teaching qualifications in these schools. In addition,
there are 111 second level teachers working in disadvantaged primary
schools. One teacher in the survey commented that the effects of
non-qualified personnel on children's learning must be examined and
corrective action taken.
Over one in five pupils miss more than twenty school days in the year.
This is substantially higher than the national average in primary
schools, which is roughly ten percent. In the most disadvantaged
schools nearly a third of all pupils miss more than twenty days. There
are clearly serious problems with behaviour although suspension from
school is used sparingly. Only 134 pupils out of a total pupil
population of 46,584 were suspended from school for more than six days
during the last school year.
Over a third of principal teachers in disadvantaged schools have full
time teaching duties. This was highlighted as a problem by teachers
who argued that principals needed more time free from teaching duties
to deal with issues such as behaviour, attendance and administrative
duties.
Over two thirds of the pupils in these schools receive free books with
the most disadvantaged schools reporting a take up on this scheme of
one hundred percent. Disadvantaged schools are almost completely
reliant on state funding to meet annual running costs. Schools
reported that about eight percent of income came from fundraising and
voluntary contributions from parents. This compares with other INTO
evidence, which shows that in non-disadvantaged schools more than
thirty percent of income comes from non-state funding. Just over half
of the schools run a homework club while 40% run a breakfast club or
have another type of school meal facility.
Priorities for teachers in disadvantaged schools are:
The development and roll out of a Speech and Language Service for
pupils, ideally at school based level.
Smaller class sizes.
Additional support for special needs pupils.
Increased funding.
The full development of the National Education Psychological Service.
Extension of the Early Start Projectsto all schools on a full day
basis.
Child Psychiatric Services and Family Guidance Centres.
*
Dear friends,
Issue two of Street Seen is now on the streets. Street Seen is a
street newspaper both for those living on the streets and to bring to
attention the issue of homelessness in its many forms to a wider
audience. Street seen also has and will deal with various local and
International issues, from Anti War, Anti Sectarianism and Anti
Racism, to dealing with such other local issues as drug addiction, the
environment and Trade Unionism. It shall also deal with the 'real'
interests of the multi national and global corporations, as well as
that interest that has seen recent arson attacks on some of our
wonderful buildings and architecture around Belfast. We shall deal
with issues of poverty, privatisation - water charges and raise
important questions while dealing with important issues.
Street Seen is available from vendors in Belfast, This issue as with
the first, also covers the activism of the ARN. Yet although only the
second issue, Street Seen has also hit the streets of other cities
around the country and has been requested from abroad.
Street Seen - Only a quid - A worthy cause and a worthy and
informative read.
Davy Carlin of the Editorial Board - Street Seen
*
New Hands Off Venezuela website
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/
*
FINANCIAL APPEAL:
We ask you to make a special donation to support our human rights and
campaigning work
Donations payable to Colombia Solidarity Campaign and send to Colombia
Solidarity Campaign, PO Box 8446, London N17 6NZ
Many thanks.
Colombia Solidarity Campaign
PO Box 8446
London N17 6NZ
Tel: 07743 743041
Email: colombia_sc@hotmail.com
http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/
*******
WHAT'S ON
*
INVITATION TO THE THIRD EDITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL DAYS OF STRUGGLE
AGAINST ISOLATION
This year we are going to organize the activities in relation with the
"International Days of Struggle against Isolation" with an
international symposium against isolation in Berlin.
THE PROGRAM FOR THE THIRD YEAR
15-18 December 2004, Berlin
15-17 December: Symposium
18 December: International Festival
Venue:
Alte Feuerwache
Axel-Springer-Str. 40/41
10969 Berlin
Public transport:
U6 Kochstrasse
U2 Spittelmarkt
PROGRAM
15 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-11.00
Opening
11.00-13.00
IRELAND
Speakers: IRSP, IRPWA, Marion Price (Veteran of the 1981 hunger
strike)
13.00-14.00
Lunch
14.00-17.00:
PALESTINE / IRAQ
Speakers: Addameer (Palestine), IKP (Cadre), Iraqi patriotic alliance,
Cihan Keskek (Turkey, human shield), Azmet Begg (England, father of a
Guantanamo captive)
17.00-18.30
Dinner
18.30-21.00
THE GREAT RESISTANCE AGAINST ISOLATION IN TURKEY AND HUMAN RIGHT
VIOLATIONS
Speakers: Ahmet Kulaksiz (father of Canan and Zehra who died both by
Death Fast), Niyazi Agirman (his son hanged himself in an F-type cell
and his daughter was killed some weeks ago by the army), Cezmi
Ersöz (writer), a Death Fast veteran, Feleknaz Uca (Deputy of the
European Parliament, PDS), Rüdiger Göbel (editor of the daily
newspaper Junge Welt), Paola Cecchi (Women International League for
Peace and Freedom)
16 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-12.30
BASQUE COUNTRY, SPAIN-FRANCE
Speakers: Behatokia (Basque Observatory of Human Rights), Askatasuna,
Ex-prisoner from Basque country, Endavant (Catalonia)
12.30-14.00
Lunch
14.00-16.30:
CUBAN 5, MUMIA ABU JAMAL
Speakers: Cuba Si, FG BRD-Cuba, representative of Cuban embassy,
Basta Ya, James Cockroft
16.30-18.30
Dinner
18.30-21.00
BLACK LIST, OPERATION OF 1st APRIL
Speakers: International Platform against Isolation, Naime Kara,
Nazmiye Kaya, Mehmet Göçebe, CAMPACC (England), Bernd Häusler
(Representative for human rights of the bar association in Berlin)
17 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-13.30:
General plenum:
Speakers-representation: Greece (Greek Social Forum, Lawyer
Rollhäuser), Italy (Assamblea Nazionale Anticapitalista,
Associazione
Solidarieta Proletaria, Senza Censura) Germany (Spartakisten,
Internationale Solidarität), Palestine (Palestinian community-
Austria) Nepal (Nepalese People's Progressive Forum), Iran, Turkey
(Anatolian federation), Sweden, Denmark (Internationalt Forum,
Opror), Austria (International Solidarity forum) Peru, Chile
(Colectivo Europeo Contra la Impunidad), Marocco (Annahj
Addimocrati), Algeria (PADS) etc.
13.30-15.00
Lunch
15.00-17.00:
END DECLARATION AND ASSESSMENTS.
Information number and email-address:
isolation@post.com
0049-163-8003094
Or
0032-2-2300688
*
Prisoners Month
In a Dublin City venue at 8pm, Saturday the 18th of December,
traditionally known as Prisoners Month, the Irish Republican Socialist
Party will be hosting a benefit night to raise funds for republican
socialist prisoners and their dependents. It will feature a sponsored
hair-shaving event with participation from current and ex-prisoners
and IRSP members and supporters. There will be music and ballads by
Beggars Bush and a fundraising draw on the night, prizes to include
Portlaoise hand-crafted mirrors and bodhrans plus a Castlerea Harp,
and an auction of a specially commissioned painting of Michael Collins
by renowned artist, Mr. Eddie Garland.
Admission is 5 euro only and is by ticket only, for more information
e-mail Dublinirsp@hotmail.com.
For those (particularly our friends and supporters in America, Sweden,
Canada, England, Scotland, and Wales, etc.) who wish to make a
donation or indeed provide sponsorship via account transfer, please
credit Allied Irish Bank, Capel Street Branch, Dublin 7, Account
Number 19186018, Branch Code 931101.
Remember the prisoners and their families this Xmas.
*
Cork Anti-War Campaign Public Meeting,
LOCATION: Tig Filí, McCurtain St., Cork, 13th December, 8pm.
by Ray Hanrahan - Cork Anti-War Campaign
hanrahanone@hotmail.com
The Year in Review, Our Hopes for 2005
The Cork Anti-War Campaign invites all anti-war activists in the Cork
area and beyond to come to a public meeting at the Tig Filí,
McCurtain St. at 8pm on Monday, 13th December to participate in a
review of the year's activities of both the Cork Anti-War Campaign and
the Irish anti-war movement generally. We are also interested to hear
the ideas and opinions of people about what we as a local organisation
and as a national movement can/could/should be doing in the coming
year.
Tim Hourigan and Ed Horgan will speak, and after the speakers the
meeting will be open to the floor. This is an ideal opportunity for
all those activists and supporters of the anti-war cause to re-engage
with each other and to re-invigorate the CAWC, and we hope for a
productive and enjoyable night. Everybody is welcome to come along and
contribute ideas or give reflections on the past year's activities.
*******
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Republican Socialist Online Merchandise - A website that offers a
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distinct Republican Socialist theme. Proceeds from sales from this
effort go towards the IRSM and its various projects.
http://www.angelfire.com/folk/irishshop/
Teach Na Failte Memorial Committees - A new 2004 full colour glossy
calendar is available now on the RSM online shop. It celebrates the
brilliant work undertaken by the Teach Na Failte Memorial Committees
this past year throughout the six counties with full colour
photographs on each page. This calendar can be viewed online by
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http://www.cafeshops.com/rsmshop.8844526
*
Support the IRSP
Standing Order Form
To the Manager First Trust Bank, Andersonstown.
Please pay First Trust Bank Andersonstown Branch, Belfast, and credit
to Irish Republican Socialist Party, A/C Number 70490021, Branch Code
93-84-75
The sum of:
Amount in words:
Commencing date: and thereafter every month till further notice.
And debiting A/C number:
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Volume 2, Number 17
10 December 2004
E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1. Editorial
2. Half of Kids Suffer War and Poverty
3. Water Tax: Who is the Real Victim?
4. Old Bailey Bomber Ashamed of Sinn Fein
5. From the Newspapers
6. Letters
7. What's On
*******
EDITORIAL
So after all the talks after all the to-ing and fro-ing there is still
no deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein. Frankly we are not surprised.
Paisley has spent his entire political and religious life ranting and
raving against nationalists and Catholics. He has incited young
working class Protestants to violent acts and he has colluded with
loyalist murderers. Those republicans who still adhere to the basic
tenets of republicanism as outlined by Wolfe Tone can see no way that
any self-respecting republican can envisage serving in a government
under Paisley control. Nor should any republican give credibility to
segregation. We have in the Six Counties segregated housing,
segregated jobs, and segregated communities. This segregation is given
credence by the Good Friday Agreement itself. The power sharing nature
of that agreement puts people into two boxes, unionist and
nationalist. The very structures established under the GFA legitimise
sectarianism.
We have said consistently and persistently that the six county state
is irreformable. Every attempted effort to establish a stable
administration here since 1972, that is 32 years of effort, has
failed. Any new power sharing arrangement will also fail and in the
process to establish it sectarianism will be strengthened. No
republican, no socialist can accept that.
It is imperative that efforts are re-doubled to forge class unity
between workers from all backgrounds and that republicans win the
argument that the interests of all the people can be best served by
the establishment of a socialist republic.
*******
HALF OF KIDS SUFFER WAR AND POVERTY
AIDS UNICEF report blames governments for permanent damage
More than half the world's children are suffering the effects of
poverty, war and HIV/AIDS, denying them a healthy and safe childhood,
UNICEF's annual report said Thursday.* The United Nations children's
fund report on The State of the World's Children found more than 1
billion children were growing up hungry and unhealthy, schools had
become targets for warring parties and whole villages were being
killed off by AIDS. Compiled by UNICEF and researchers at the London
School of Economics and Bristol University, the report found more than
half the children in developing countries lived in poverty without
access to basic goods and services.
It also said:
* One in six children was severely hungry.
* One in seven had no access to health care.
* One in five had no safe water.
* One in three had no toilet or sanitation facilities at home.
The report found 640 million children did not have adequate shelter;
300 million had no access to information such as TV, radio or
newspapers and 140 million children, the majority of them girls, had
never been to school.
Poverty was not confined to developing countries, the report said, as
the proportion of children living in low-income households in 11 of 15
industrialized nations rose in the past decade. More than 10 million
child deaths were recorded in 2003, with an estimated 29,158 children
under 5 dying from mostly preventable causes everyday. UNICEF reported
conflict around the world had seriously injured or permanently
disabled millions of children, while millions more endured sexual
violence, trauma, hunger and disease caused by wars. Nearly half of
the 3.6 million people killed in conflict during the 1990s were
children and around 20 million children were forced from their homes
and communities by fighting. UNICEF said almost half a million
children under 15 died of AIDS in 2003, while another 630,000 children
were infected with HIV. By 2003 some 2.1 million children under 15
were living with HIV/AIDS, most of whom were infected during
pregnancy, birth or through breast-feeding. From 2001 to 2003, the
number of children who had lost one or both parents to AIDS rose from
11.5 million to 15 million and around 80 percent of those were living
in sub-Saharan Africa. The UNICEF report said the world had the
capacity to reduce poverty, conflict and HIV/AIDS and improve the
plight of the world's children. It said Millennium Development Goals,
which aim to improve the world through human development by 2015 and
were agreed to by the U.N.'s 191 member states in 2000, could be
achieved at an annual cost of $40-$70 billion. In comparison, world
spending on military in 2003 was $956 billion. Bellamy said the
quality of a child's life depended on decisions made by the global
community and the world's governments. "We must make those decisions
wisely and with children's best interests in mind. If we fail to
secure childhood, we fail to reach our larger, global goals for human
rights and economic development," she said.
(From - LONDON, England (Associated Press))
*******
WATER TAX: WHO IS THE REAL VICTIM?
By Charlie Clarke
The issue of water tax is a very complex one. It can be difficult to
understand and comprehend, but I will explain it as simplistically as
I can. Although there is a wide spread awakening to the issue of the
water tax throughout the province, I can see that there are some
problems facing the campaign, and if left can be detrimental to any
action that the campaign may endorse in the future.
One of the obstacles standing in the way of the success of the
campaign is poor attendance at the arranged meetings. This I believe
is for two reasons:
1. That the working class community are afraid of the consequences of
standing up to the government and refusing to pay for the water.
2. The working class community have been lured into the false sense of
security that it won't happen for a while yet.
The community needs to be educated on the seriousness of the Water Tax
with a series of educational flyers or documents BEFORE we invite them
to any such arranged meeting. Public interest and distaste at the
proposed tax needs to be aroused first and foremost as this cannot be
seen to be any one party or individual trying to achieve political or
personal gain from the hardship of the working class victim of this
levy.
The statutory bodies that are dripping this information out to the
public are playing a cat and mouse game with us. They are listening
to the public opinion and are forming their plans around that. We
need to be careful. The other fact is that there are other political
parties that support the implementation of such levies on the working
classes (PSF, SDLP included!) and are cleverly working in the
background with the information that they are receiving from these
meetings. ALL of the political parties involved in this so-called
'Good Friday Agreement' have signed up to the principle of the water
tax. No matter what public stance these parties seem to take, they
have and will continue to endorse the Water Tax. In fact, the parties
here are hoping that the direct rule situation that we are in at
present will implement this for them!
So with the political parties of the GFA against us, who is going to
support and assist us? Who is going to organise and maintain such a
campaign against this tax? What directions are we going to take in
order to successfully fight this and win? There are so many
unanswered questions that need to be put to the people of our areas
before we can win their support for this campaign. The working class
community need to be convinced that there WILL be support for them on
the ground and that they are not going to be abandoned by any of the
campaigns that are asking for their support. They need to be
truthfully told and informed of the consequences that such a campaign
can bring. People will go to jail, ordinary working class people!
This cannot be distorted or brushed under the carpet! People are
going to receive severe fines and penalties for non-payment of their
bills, and this will eventually result in imprisonment. Failure to
inform the working classes of this will bring the campaign crashing
around our knees and the imperialist will have won. There will be
some of us who will experience imprisonment for this cause but what we
have to remember is that THEY CANNOT JAIL US ALL!
We need to have strategies and counter strategies in place. We need
to have contingency and back up plans so that we may tackle every
thing that the government throws our way. Families are going to have
to be supported in the event that incarceration occurs. We have had
to do just that before, so there must be no change to the eligibility
of this assistance. If a member of a household is incarcerated for
non-payment of their water tax because the campaign has called for
them to do so, then their family needs to be financially supported.
This needs to be addressed. People need to be convinced that this is
a honourable cause. We can lie down and allow the politicians and the
government to walk all over us, to implement the taxes that they wish
and allow them to privatise the human rights of the working classes.
Who is going to pay us for it? Who is going to subsidise us for the
extra expenses that we will inevitably have to pay out? Our incomes
are to remain the same but we are expected to pay out more than we can
afford. It is only by refusing to conform to their wishes that we are
going to win. We must rise together and stand against this
imperialism that is oppressing us.
The working classes are the targets for this new tax. We already pay
for our water through the rates that we pay to the city council.
Household water bills averaging at £340 per year will begin coming
through your door in 1st April 2006. Yet we already pay for our water
through our rates - 37% of our rates bill already goes to the Water
Service. Here are a few facts concerning the proposed Water Tax.
1. NO household will be exempt from water charges. Families on
benefits, pensioners and those on low income will still be forced to
pay 75% of their water bills.
2. Much needed investment in water & sewerage can be found without
additional domestic water charges.
3. The water tax will do nothing for the environment or to safe guard
water supplies.
4. A new water company is being set up. This will be sold to big
business to maximise private profit from public charges.
5. The water tax can be defeated - the poll tax was defeated in 1990
and in Dublin water charges were abolished - both defeated by a mass
campaign of non-payment.
The truth surrounding the whole issue is that we will be forced to pay
for this over and over again. It is a double tax. We are paying for
it in our rates, we will be paying for it with the water tax, and we
will be forced to pay increases in prices by small and big businesses
that are also going to have to pay this levy; e.g. the ladies haircut
that normally cost £30 will inevitably cost more as the hairdresser
will have to pay for the water that they have to use so liberally,
etc. All business will be affected by this new tax, and in the rules
of trading it is the consumer that pays for rent, wage, tax increases
etc. Profit margins will remain the same so the additional revenue
has to come from somewhere. It will be left to the working classes to
foot the bill for everybody.
Why should we pay for this when the government are upgrading the water
service and the sewerage to sell it off to the big business for
profit? Companies are buying up the rights to all the water in the
world. They are buying the rights to the rain! Farmers are being
taxed for collecting rainwater in barrels, and from fetching water
from streams. It is ridiculous and it is a breach of our human
rights. Water is a human right! It is the essence of life itself!
What gives the 'fat cat' the right to sell to us what doesn't belong
to him in the first place! What is next? Privatising the air?
There are no easy answers to this problem. No quick fix solutions
that will eradicate the plans of the government and stop them from
enforcing this charge upon the working class. They will use the
excuses that they are not charging for the water, but are merely
charging for the use of their services and systems. This is a lie!
37% of your rates bill pays for the use of sewerage and water
supplies! This goes directly to the Water Service. They will
threaten that the revenue needed for this will not be found by any
other means and that failure to pay this by levy will result in a
reduction in budgets for the already under funded schools and
hospitals owned by the government. Why then can it not come from the
massive defence budget?
They say that they cannot find the money elsewhere. Why can they not
reduce the ridiculously high salaries of the MPs and the MLAs who
represent their government and put it towards the cost, instead of
endorsing ludicrous pay rises for the already highly overpaid fat
cats? The reason is that they don't want to and that they don't have
to. The working classes will pay.
The water companies that will buy over the water and sewerage
provision will also advocate the turning off of supply to your home in
the event of non-payment. They will restrict you from having your
human right to water. The Anti-Poverty Network states that if you do
not have access to clean running water then you are in serious
poverty. These multi-national companies will do just that!
The government is saying that we are so worthless and insignificant
that we do not have the right to water. They are saying that if we
refuse to pay for it then they will disconnect our services, they will
impose heavy fines and they will eventually imprison us! WE are the
only people who can fight this and WIN! In order to do that though,
we must join together and support the Anti-Water Tax campaign.
*******
OLD BAILEY BOMBER ASHAMED OF SINN FEIN
Village
7 December 2004
Old Bailey Bomber Ashamed of Sinn Fein
By Suzanne Breen
A well-dressed, articulate, middle-aged woman, Marian Price wouldn't
look out of place on a Sinn Féin negotiating team meeting Tony
Blair or Bertie Ahern.
But she'd face jail and hunger-strike all over again rather than take
part: "I would be ashamed to be on any delegation to Downing Street
given what's on the table. The only reason for going there should be
to negotiate the freedom of our country.
"If I went to agree to British rule, restoring Stormont, or signing up
to a partitionist police force, I'd hope at least to have the decency
to hang my head in shame."
The last time Price visited London was to blow it up. With her sister
Dolours and Gerry Kelly, now a Sinn Féin negotiator, she was part
of an 11-strong IRA unit which in March 1973 planted bombs at the Old
Bailey, New Scotland Yard, Whitehall, and the British Forces
Broadcasting Office.
They were arrested attempting to fly home from Heathrow Airport. A
200-day hunger-strike and force-feeding regime made the sisters
household names. "I did what I believed in," Price says. "Nothing
Provisional IRA or Sinn Féin leaders do can denigrate that.
"But I'm very angry when I see so much has been sacrificed for so
little. All these lives have been lost - IRA volunteers, civilians,
policemen, British soldiers - and for what? If this is what they're
settling for, we all could have joined the SDLP back then."
Price (50) came from a staunch republican family in West Belfast. She
believes IRA membership is too often explained away as an emotional
response to events: "I made an ideological choice to join. It wasn't a
reaction to Bloody Sunday, internment or anything else."
Her childhood ambition was to be a nurse. She left school with a
string of 'O' and 'A' levels and secured one of only five places on a
course at the Royal Victoria Hospital. She denies there was a huge
contradiction between IRA membership and nursing.
"One day, a wounded British soldier was brought into casualty. He was
wearing a dirty vest. He looked frightened. I felt very sorry for him.
That night, I told my comrades and one joked that I should have
finished him off.
"I asked why on earth I'd do that. He was no longer a soldier, he'd
been taken out of the battlefield. He was a patient now, I'd have no
difficulty looking after him."
The bombing mission was the Provisional IRA's first to England. The
idea and planning came from the sisters. Price travelled on the
Dublin-Liverpool ferry with one of the four car bombs which was then
driven to London.
Did she never consider the morality of planting bombs in densely
populated areas?: "The warnings given were twice as long as in
Belfast. That was a conscious decision because we knew the English
lacked experience of evacuation. We didn't want civilian casualties,
from a moral or pragmatic viewpoint."
Yet there were casualties. Two bombs were defused but those at the Old
Bailey and Whitehall exploded, injuring 200 people, mainly with flying
glass. Price expresses regret but says the injuries "weren't
intentional."
"I've never had a sleepless night over anything I've done as an IRA
volunteer. Bombs are weapons of war. Western states have used them far
more brutally than we ever did.
"George Bush and Tony Blair send other people's sons out to die
without ever venturing onto the battlefield themselves. They drop far
bigger bombs from B52s on women and children and they don't give any
warnings at all."
Price is an atheist: "When I look around the world, I think if there's
a God, he's a bad God."
After her arrest at Heathrow, she was interrogated for five days. "I
was stripped in the police station and given a grey blanket to wear. I
was embarrassed because there were a lot of policemen about and I was
sexually innocent.
"They used no physical violence but I wasn't let sleep once. The
lights were kept on in my cell and the police were there at all times.
If I started to doze off, they clapped their hands."
She remained remarkably unfazed: "I remember a detective saying to me,
'I bet your mother will be proud of you' and I thought 'yes, she will
be very proud of me.' My father was on a bombing mission to England in
the forties, so it was a family tradition."
The sisters were charged and moved to Brixton Prison. They were
strip-searched daily and locked 23-hours a day in cells where again
the lights were permanently on.
As a 19-year-old facing potential life imprisonment in England, wasn't
she depressed?: "It never entered my head. I'd known what I believed
in and the risks involved.
"My mother, her sisters, and my granny had been in Cumann na mBan. My
Aunt Bridie was badly injured lifting an IRA arms dump in the 30s. It
exploded and she lost her hands and sight. She was 26.
"When we were growing up, it was never a case of 'poor Bridie.' We
were just proud of her sacrifice. She came home from hospital to a wee
house with an outside toilet, no social worker, no disability
allowance, and no counselling. She just got on with it."
Price claims that during their 1973 trial, the bombers learned they
had been compromised by a high-placed informer in Belfast who knew all
the details but didn't take part in the operation.
"It emerged in court that customs at Liverpool realised one of the
cars had false number plates. They phoned Scotland Yard but were told
to wave it through.
"The authorities allowed the bombs to happen. They had details of the
operation in advance that could only have come from a senior figure in
Belfast. We learned that photos of Dolours and I had been circulated
at airports and ports across Britain nine hours before the bombs
exploded," says Price.
She claims that during the trial they agreed it would be less damaging
for the IRA if they appeared "young, stupid and incompetent," rather
than publicly exposing an informer. She claims to know the identity of
the alleged informer whom, she says, remains in a leadership
position.
The Price sisters, Gerry Kelly and Hugh Feeney went on hunger-strike
in Brixton Prison in November 1973 as part of a campaign to be
repatriated to serve their sentences in Northern Ireland.
"Four male prison officers tie you into the chair so tightly with
sheets you can't struggle," says Price. "You clench your teeth to try
to keep your mouth closed but they push a metal spring device around
your jaw to prise it open.
"They force a wooden clamp with a hole in the middle into your mouth.
Then, they insert a big rubber tube down that. They hold your head
back. You can't move.
"They throw whatever they like into the food mixer - orange juice,
soup, or cartons of cream if they want to beef up the calories. They
take jugs of this gruel from the food mixer and pour it into a funnel
attached to the tube.
"The force-feeding takes 15 minutes but it feels like forever. You're
in control of nothing. You're terrified the food will go down the
wrong way and you won't be able to let them know because you can't
speak or move. You're frightened you'll choke to death."
Price was force-fed 400 times over six months. "I knew nothing about
force-feeding beforehand," says Price. "I thought it was like when you
hold a baby's nose and put a spoon in its mouth. Ignorance was
bliss."
After the sisters went on hunger-strike, the British Home Office
dispatched eminent psychiatrist Peter Scott to examine them. "He said
he'd been sent to certify us so we could be force-fed. He left saying
we knew exactly what we were doing and the problem was we were too
sane," Price says.
They built a good rapport with Dr Ian Blythe, the prison doctor: "He
called us 'my girls.' As the hunger-strike went on, he arm-wrestled
with us, pretending it was a game but really testing us to see how
much we were weakening."
Dolours was first to be force fed, three weeks into the
hunger-strike.
"I met her in the exercise yard afterwards. She was in a terrible
state. She said it she couldn't go through that again. I told her she
didn't have to, she could come off the hunger-strike immediately, but
I'd stay on.
"She said we'd come off together or not at all. She was much braver
than me because she was so much more afraid of force-feeding yet she
didn't give in." Two days later, Marian was force-fed.
While Dolours endured the procedure once a day, Marian suffered it
twice daily because she vomited so often afterwards. "I always threw
up when they pulled the tube out of my stomach. It was vile. I would
be exhausted afterwards but you couldn't even lie in bed in your cell
in privacy because the screws came in with you.
"Sometimes when they arrived to force feed me, I would struggle; other
times I didn't have the energy to fight. The low point was having no
control over your weight. But not for one minute did I think of giving
up. They were never, ever going to break me."
One day, a doctor put the tube into Price's lung, not her stomach, and
water flooded in. "I felt like I was drowning. I passed out. They
carried me back to my cell. The doctors were standing over me when I
came round. If had been food, not water in the tube, it would have
killed me. The medical and prison staff told the authorities they
wouldn't force feed me again."
A fortnight after that incident in May 1974, the hunger-strike ended
and a deal was reached. The sisters were moved to Armagh Prison the
following March.
The British Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, was loathed by republicans
for his treatment of the hunger-strikers. Price says she doesn't hate
him: "He was caught up in the politics of the situation. He followed
orders. I once asked the psychiatrist Peter Scott who knew him to
invite him to Brixton to visit us. He said he wouldn't come because if
he met us, he'd want to send us home."
Price was freed after five years in Armagh Jail, suffering from
anorexia and tuberculosis. Ten-and-a-half stone when she was arrested,
she left prison half that weight.
On release from jail, she says she was in no physical or mental state
to rejoin the IRA and had no interest in a Sinn Féin career: "I
like politics but not politicians. To be a politician, you must be a
liar and a hypocrite."
Still, she was initially positive about Sinn Féin’s rise,
believing it would strengthen the IRA campaign: "I remember watching
TV as Sinn Féin swept down the stairs in Belfast City Hall with
Tricolour ribbons and champagne after an election victory.
"My father was disgusted. He pointed to Gerry Adams and said, 'I've
been around longer than you, that boy will sell you out.' I told him
to give Sinn Féin a chance. I was wrong."
From 1994, Price had "serious concerns" about the leadership's
political direction but "loyalty to the movement" kept her quiet.
Eventually, she spoke at one 'republican family' meeting in West
Belfast, expressing doubts. A senior IRA member visited her home: "He
told me what I was saying wasn't appreciated and he'd shot people for
less."
She claims the Republican Movement underwent a transformation: "People
began to make financial gain from the movement. Those who had never
worked a day in their lives, now had better homes, cars, and holidays
than their neighbours.
"It used to be what you could do for the movement, now it's what the
movement can do for you. In the past, to be a republican brought
financial hardship. But that was okay because to be a republican was
to be something special. You knew you were right."
Price says that while the peace process has secured "a measure of
equality" for Catholics, a British withdrawal and the ending of
partition is further away than ever.
Five years ago, she joined the 32 County Sovereignty Movement which
security sources say is the Real IRA's political wing, a claim the
group denies. She says her military days are over but she won't
condemn others "for doing what I did myself."
She claims 'armed struggle' is morally justified "while the British
occupy part of this country." The Real IRA has proved itself incapable
of waging a sustained campaign against the state and lacks popular
support. Physical force republicanism has never been weaker in recent
decades.
Price refuses to recognise 'armed struggle' is now pointless:
"Sometimes it's necessary to do something just to let it be known
there are people out there who don't accept the status quo.
"Being a minority of a minority is nothing new for republicans. You
don't join for an easy life or to be popular. As a child, I remember
50 people at an Easter parade on the Falls Road."
Despite everything, she has no regrets: "Disappointments maybe. I'm
disappointed in Gerry Kelly. I expected more of him but I'd never
detract from the physical bravery he showed. Gerry Adams and I were
once friends. We certainly aren't now. He may have difficulty
admitting his IRA past but I'm very, very proud of mine."
.
Reprinted from IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/
*******
FROM THE NEWSPAPERS
*
London Guardian
7 December 2004
PEOPLE POWER
By Mark Almond
People Power is on track to score another triumph for western values
in Ukraine. Over the last 15 years, the old Soviet bloc has witnessed
recurrent fairy tale political upheavals. These modern morality tales
always begin with a happy ending. But what happens to the people once
People Power has won?
The upheaval in Ukraine is presented as a battle between the people
and Soviet-era power structures. The role of western cold war-era
agencies is taboo. Poke your nose into the funding of the lavish
carnival in Kiev, and the shrieks of rage show that you have touched a
neuralgic point of the New World Order.
All politics costs money, and the crowd scenes broadcast daily from
Kiev cost big bucks. Market economics may have triumphed, but if
Milton Friedman were to remind the recipients of free food and drink
in Independence Square that "there is no such thing as a free lunch",
he would doubtless be branded a Stalinist. Few seem to ask what the
people paying for People Power want in return for sponsoring all those
rock concerts. As an old cold war swagman, who carried tens of
thousands of dollars to Soviet-bloc dissidents alongside much better
respected academics, perhaps I can cast some light on what a Romanian
friend called "our clandestine period". Too many higher up the food
chain of People Power seem reticent about making full disclosure.
Nowadays, we can goggle the names of foundations such as America's
National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and a myriad surrogates funding
Ukraine's Pora movement or "independent" media. But unless you know
the NED's James Woolsey was also head of the CIA 10 years ago, are you
any wiser?
Throughout the 1980s, in the build-up to 1989's velvet revolutions, a
small army of volunteers - and, let's be frank, spies - co-operated to
promote what became People Power. A network of interlocking
foundations and charities mushroomed to organise the logistics of
transferring millions of dollars to dissidents. The money came
overwhelmingly from NATO states and covert allies such as "neutral"
Sweden.
It is true that not every penny received by dissidents came from
taxpayers. The US billionaire, George Soros, set up the Open Society
Foundation. How much it gave is difficult to verify, because Mr Soros
promotes openness for others, not himself.
Engels remarked that he saw no contradiction between making a million
on the stock market in the morning and spending it on the revolution
in the afternoon. Our modern market revolutionaries are now inverting
that process. People beholden to them come to office with the power to
privatise. The hangover from People Power is shock therapy. Each
successive crowd is sold a multimedia vision of Euro-Atlantic
prosperity by western-funded "independent" media to get them on the
streets. No one dwells on the mass unemployment, rampant insider
dealing, growth of organised crime, prostitution and soaring death
rates in successful People Power states. In 1989, our security
services honed an ideal model as a mechanism for changing regimes,
often using genuine volunteers. Dislike of the way communist states
constrained ordinary people's lives led me into undercover work, but
witnessing mass pauperisation and cynical opportunism in the 1990s
bred my disillusionment.
Of course, I should have recognised the symptoms of corruption
earlier. Back in the 1980s, our media portrayed Prague dissidents as
selfless academics who were reduced to poverty for their principles,
when they were in fact receiving $600-monthly stipends. Now they sit
in the front row of the new Euro-Atlantic ruling class. The dowdy
do-gooder who seemed so devoted to making sure that every penny of her
"charity" money got to a needy recipient is now a facilitator for
investors in our old stamping grounds. The end of history was the
birth of consultancy.
Grown cynical, the dissident types who embezzled the cash to fund,
say, a hotel in the Buda hills did less harm than those that launched
politico-media careers. In Poland, the ex-dissident Adam Michnik's
Agora media empire - worth EUR400m today - grew out of the underground
publishing world of Solidarity, funded by the CIA in the 1980s. His
newspapers now back the war in Iraq, despite its huge unpopularity
among Poles. Meanwhile, from the shipyard workers who founded
Solidarity in 1980 to the Kolubara miners of Serbia, who proclaimed
their town "the Gdansk of Serbia" in October 2000, millions now have
plenty of time on their hands to read about their role in history.
People Power is, it turns out, more about closing things than creating
an open society. It shuts factories but, worse still, minds. Its
advocates demand a free market in everything - except opinion. The
current ideology of New World Order ideologues, many of whom are
renegade communists, is Market-Leninism - that combination of a
dogmatic economic model with Machiavellian methods to grasp the levers
of power. Today's only superpower uses its old cold war weapons, not
against totalitarian regimes, but against governments that Washington
has tired of. Tiresome allies such as Shevardnadze in Georgia did
everything the US wanted, but forgot the Soviet satirist Ilf's wisdom:
"It doesn’t matter whether you love the Party. It matters whether
the Party loves you." Georgia is of course a link in the chain of
pipelines bringing central Asian oil and gas to NATO territory via
Ukraine, of all places. Such countries' rulers should beware. Fifty
years ago, Zbigniew Brzezinski argued that the "politics of the
permanent purge" typified Soviet communism. Yet now he is always on
hand to demand People Power topple yesterday's favourite in favour of
a new "reformer".
"People Power" was coined in 1986, when Washington decided Ferdinand
Marcos had to go. But it was events in Iran in 1953 that set the
template. Then, Anglo-American money stirred up anti-Mossadeq crowds
to demand the restoration of the Shah. The New York Times's
correspondent trumpeted the victory of the people over communism, even
though he had given $50,000 and the CIA-drafted text of the
anti-Mossadeq declaration to the coup leaders himself.
Is today's official version of People Power similarly economical with
the truth?
[Mark Almond is lecturer in modern history at Oriel College, Oxford]
mpalmond@aol.com
*
Sunday Business Post
5 December 2004
THE DYNAMICS OF IRISH POLITICS
By Vincent Brown
There are huge inequalities in health, as evidenced by the differences
in mortality rates between rich and poor, and massive neglect of the
most marginalised; mental patients, travellers, refugees, prisoners.
There are enormous problems in education, particularly in primary
education, where deep disadvantage is compounded. There are huge
problems in housing, and unfairness through and through in the legal
system, notably in the criminal justice system. All the opposition can
do on these issues is whine a little, because they are fettered by the
constrains of the set agenda: low tax, low public spending, alarm over
crime. Nobody dares to campaign for a different agenda - and for a
simple reason: it would not yield results quickly enough.
The objective is to get into government after the next election, and
this cannot be accomplished by confronting the prevailing political
culture.
Changing that culture would take a decade at least. By then the
socialists will be 70 (remember the 1960s slogan 'the seventies will
be socialist'?) and the chance of ministerial office lost to the
present aspirants. But there is no point to ministerial office other
than to make radical changes.
*
That's the whole point of republican socialist politics. We are going
against the grain of prevailing political culture and we are not going
to let ourselves be fettered by the constrains of the set agenda. But
we hope that this happens before the socialists will turn 70.
*******
LETTERS
*
Statement by John Carr, General Secretary, Irish National Teachers'
Organization, on Educational Disadvantage.
3 December 2004
INTO Publishes Survey Results on Disadvantaged Schools.
The INTO has released the results of a survey of almost 300 of the
country's most disadvantaged schools. The survey was conducted during
the months of October and November this year and replies were received
from a total of 289 schools representing over 3,600 teachers. The
results point to major difficulties in the areas of staffing, special
needs, funding and attendance. Teachers also identified key resource
provisions that must be implemented in order to combat problems in
these areas. "The results show the extent of the challenge facing the
Department to increase provision for the disadvantaged in line with
government policy to promote social inclusion. Without concerted
action at school based level the cycle of poverty and educational
disadvantage will not be broken," said John Carr.
Under the new system of allocating special needs teachers to schools
proposed by the previous Minister for Education and Science more than
over a third of the country's disadvantaged schools were set to lose
teachers. The survey showed that 117 schools would lose teachers
compared to 102 that would gain. There was no change in provision for
the remainder of schools. "This shows that the new Minister, Mary
Hanafin was correct to order a review of the system," said John Carr.
"It is totally unacceptable that the most disadvantaged schools in the
country would suffer a loss of teachers for children with special
needs. The INTO welcomes the commitment of the current Minister to
ensure that no child would lose resources to which they are currently
entitled."
Teacher turnover in disadvantaged schools is a major problem. Only
about a quarter of all teachers in disadvantaged schools have been in
their schools for more than twenty years. About 45% of teachers have
less than five years' experience. Over the past two years there has
been an annual turnover of ten percent of teachers each year. "During
the past five years there has been an exodus of teachers from
disadvantaged schools," said Carr. "This clear out is a huge loss of
valuable experience to these schools and new ways have got to be found
to encourage teachers to remain in these schools. A salary allowance
for teachers in disadvantaged schools and increased professional
development opportunities should be among the Minister's priorities."
One result of this turnover is that many of the teaching posts were
filled by persons with no teaching qualifications. Although this has
improved in the last year the survey shows that there are still 37
persons with no teaching qualifications in these schools. In addition,
there are 111 second level teachers working in disadvantaged primary
schools. One teacher in the survey commented that the effects of
non-qualified personnel on children's learning must be examined and
corrective action taken.
Over one in five pupils miss more than twenty school days in the year.
This is substantially higher than the national average in primary
schools, which is roughly ten percent. In the most disadvantaged
schools nearly a third of all pupils miss more than twenty days. There
are clearly serious problems with behaviour although suspension from
school is used sparingly. Only 134 pupils out of a total pupil
population of 46,584 were suspended from school for more than six days
during the last school year.
Over a third of principal teachers in disadvantaged schools have full
time teaching duties. This was highlighted as a problem by teachers
who argued that principals needed more time free from teaching duties
to deal with issues such as behaviour, attendance and administrative
duties.
Over two thirds of the pupils in these schools receive free books with
the most disadvantaged schools reporting a take up on this scheme of
one hundred percent. Disadvantaged schools are almost completely
reliant on state funding to meet annual running costs. Schools
reported that about eight percent of income came from fundraising and
voluntary contributions from parents. This compares with other INTO
evidence, which shows that in non-disadvantaged schools more than
thirty percent of income comes from non-state funding. Just over half
of the schools run a homework club while 40% run a breakfast club or
have another type of school meal facility.
Priorities for teachers in disadvantaged schools are:
The development and roll out of a Speech and Language Service for
pupils, ideally at school based level.
Smaller class sizes.
Additional support for special needs pupils.
Increased funding.
The full development of the National Education Psychological Service.
Extension of the Early Start Projectsto all schools on a full day
basis.
Child Psychiatric Services and Family Guidance Centres.
*
Dear friends,
Issue two of Street Seen is now on the streets. Street Seen is a
street newspaper both for those living on the streets and to bring to
attention the issue of homelessness in its many forms to a wider
audience. Street seen also has and will deal with various local and
International issues, from Anti War, Anti Sectarianism and Anti
Racism, to dealing with such other local issues as drug addiction, the
environment and Trade Unionism. It shall also deal with the 'real'
interests of the multi national and global corporations, as well as
that interest that has seen recent arson attacks on some of our
wonderful buildings and architecture around Belfast. We shall deal
with issues of poverty, privatisation - water charges and raise
important questions while dealing with important issues.
Street Seen is available from vendors in Belfast, This issue as with
the first, also covers the activism of the ARN. Yet although only the
second issue, Street Seen has also hit the streets of other cities
around the country and has been requested from abroad.
Street Seen - Only a quid - A worthy cause and a worthy and
informative read.
Davy Carlin of the Editorial Board - Street Seen
*
New Hands Off Venezuela website
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/
*
FINANCIAL APPEAL:
We ask you to make a special donation to support our human rights and
campaigning work
Donations payable to Colombia Solidarity Campaign and send to Colombia
Solidarity Campaign, PO Box 8446, London N17 6NZ
Many thanks.
Colombia Solidarity Campaign
PO Box 8446
London N17 6NZ
Tel: 07743 743041
Email: colombia_sc@hotmail.com
http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/
*******
WHAT'S ON
*
INVITATION TO THE THIRD EDITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL DAYS OF STRUGGLE
AGAINST ISOLATION
This year we are going to organize the activities in relation with the
"International Days of Struggle against Isolation" with an
international symposium against isolation in Berlin.
THE PROGRAM FOR THE THIRD YEAR
15-18 December 2004, Berlin
15-17 December: Symposium
18 December: International Festival
Venue:
Alte Feuerwache
Axel-Springer-Str. 40/41
10969 Berlin
Public transport:
U6 Kochstrasse
U2 Spittelmarkt
PROGRAM
15 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-11.00
Opening
11.00-13.00
IRELAND
Speakers: IRSP, IRPWA, Marion Price (Veteran of the 1981 hunger
strike)
13.00-14.00
Lunch
14.00-17.00:
PALESTINE / IRAQ
Speakers: Addameer (Palestine), IKP (Cadre), Iraqi patriotic alliance,
Cihan Keskek (Turkey, human shield), Azmet Begg (England, father of a
Guantanamo captive)
17.00-18.30
Dinner
18.30-21.00
THE GREAT RESISTANCE AGAINST ISOLATION IN TURKEY AND HUMAN RIGHT
VIOLATIONS
Speakers: Ahmet Kulaksiz (father of Canan and Zehra who died both by
Death Fast), Niyazi Agirman (his son hanged himself in an F-type cell
and his daughter was killed some weeks ago by the army), Cezmi
Ersöz (writer), a Death Fast veteran, Feleknaz Uca (Deputy of the
European Parliament, PDS), Rüdiger Göbel (editor of the daily
newspaper Junge Welt), Paola Cecchi (Women International League for
Peace and Freedom)
16 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-12.30
BASQUE COUNTRY, SPAIN-FRANCE
Speakers: Behatokia (Basque Observatory of Human Rights), Askatasuna,
Ex-prisoner from Basque country, Endavant (Catalonia)
12.30-14.00
Lunch
14.00-16.30:
CUBAN 5, MUMIA ABU JAMAL
Speakers: Cuba Si, FG BRD-Cuba, representative of Cuban embassy,
Basta Ya, James Cockroft
16.30-18.30
Dinner
18.30-21.00
BLACK LIST, OPERATION OF 1st APRIL
Speakers: International Platform against Isolation, Naime Kara,
Nazmiye Kaya, Mehmet Göçebe, CAMPACC (England), Bernd Häusler
(Representative for human rights of the bar association in Berlin)
17 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-13.30:
General plenum:
Speakers-representation: Greece (Greek Social Forum, Lawyer
Rollhäuser), Italy (Assamblea Nazionale Anticapitalista,
Associazione
Solidarieta Proletaria, Senza Censura) Germany (Spartakisten,
Internationale Solidarität), Palestine (Palestinian community-
Austria) Nepal (Nepalese People's Progressive Forum), Iran, Turkey
(Anatolian federation), Sweden, Denmark (Internationalt Forum,
Opror), Austria (International Solidarity forum) Peru, Chile
(Colectivo Europeo Contra la Impunidad), Marocco (Annahj
Addimocrati), Algeria (PADS) etc.
13.30-15.00
Lunch
15.00-17.00:
END DECLARATION AND ASSESSMENTS.
Information number and email-address:
isolation@post.com
0049-163-8003094
Or
0032-2-2300688
*
Prisoners Month
In a Dublin City venue at 8pm, Saturday the 18th of December,
traditionally known as Prisoners Month, the Irish Republican Socialist
Party will be hosting a benefit night to raise funds for republican
socialist prisoners and their dependents. It will feature a sponsored
hair-shaving event with participation from current and ex-prisoners
and IRSP members and supporters. There will be music and ballads by
Beggars Bush and a fundraising draw on the night, prizes to include
Portlaoise hand-crafted mirrors and bodhrans plus a Castlerea Harp,
and an auction of a specially commissioned painting of Michael Collins
by renowned artist, Mr. Eddie Garland.
Admission is 5 euro only and is by ticket only, for more information
e-mail Dublinirsp@hotmail.com.
For those (particularly our friends and supporters in America, Sweden,
Canada, England, Scotland, and Wales, etc.) who wish to make a
donation or indeed provide sponsorship via account transfer, please
credit Allied Irish Bank, Capel Street Branch, Dublin 7, Account
Number 19186018, Branch Code 931101.
Remember the prisoners and their families this Xmas.
*
Cork Anti-War Campaign Public Meeting,
LOCATION: Tig Filí, McCurtain St., Cork, 13th December, 8pm.
by Ray Hanrahan - Cork Anti-War Campaign
hanrahanone@hotmail.com
The Year in Review, Our Hopes for 2005
The Cork Anti-War Campaign invites all anti-war activists in the Cork
area and beyond to come to a public meeting at the Tig Filí,
McCurtain St. at 8pm on Monday, 13th December to participate in a
review of the year's activities of both the Cork Anti-War Campaign and
the Irish anti-war movement generally. We are also interested to hear
the ideas and opinions of people about what we as a local organisation
and as a national movement can/could/should be doing in the coming
year.
Tim Hourigan and Ed Horgan will speak, and after the speakers the
meeting will be open to the floor. This is an ideal opportunity for
all those activists and supporters of the anti-war cause to re-engage
with each other and to re-invigorate the CAWC, and we hope for a
productive and enjoyable night. Everybody is welcome to come along and
contribute ideas or give reflections on the past year's activities.
*******
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*
Support the IRSP
Standing Order Form
To the Manager First Trust Bank, Andersonstown.
Please pay First Trust Bank Andersonstown Branch, Belfast, and credit
to Irish Republican Socialist Party, A/C Number 70490021, Branch Code
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Monday 6 December 2004
The Plough Vol 02 No 16
The Plough
Volume 2, Number 16
6 December 2004
E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1. Prisoners Month
2. Class Unity Will Defeat Privatisation & Water Tax!
3. From the Newspapers
4. Letters
5. What's On
*******
PRISONERS MONTH
In a Dublin City venue at 8pm, Saturday the 18th of December,
traditionally known as Prisoners Month, the Irish Republican Socialist
Party will be hosting a benefit night to raise funds for republican
socialist prisoners and their dependents. It will feature a sponsored
hair-shaving event with participation from current and ex-prisoners
and IRSP members and supporters. There will be music and ballads by
Beggars Bush and a fundraising draw on the night, prizes to include
Portlaoise hand-crafted mirrors and bodhrans plus a Castlerea Harp,
and an auction of a specially commissioned painting of Michael Collins
by renowned artist, Mr. Eddie Garland.
Admission is 5 euro only and is by ticket only, for more information
e-mail Dublinirsp@hotmail.com.
For those (particularly our friends and supporters in America, Sweden,
Canada, England, Scotland, and Wales, etc.) who wish to make a
donation or indeed provide sponsorship via account transfer, please
credit Allied Irish Bank, Capel Street Branch, Dublin 7, Account
Number 19186018, Branch Code 931101.
Remember the prisoners and their families this Xmas.
*******
CLASS UNITY WILL DEFEAT PRIVATISATION & WATER TAX!
Irish Republican Socialist Party representative John Hogan has
expressed anger at any possible introduction of a Water Tax and has
called on working class communities to avail of continuing public
meetings within the city to voice their opposition to it.
Mr Hogan said, "The constant drip, drip, dripping of information and
news stories churned out in recent months has everyone's head turned
when it comes to the issues involved with water charges. Our party has
attended what hopes to be a series of community public meetings in an
effort to create a confident grass-roots fight back against any
possible job cuts or the introduction of a Water Tax.
"There is sadly a strategy now in motion to frighten people into
accepting that they are in a no-win situation. That is simply music to
the ears of those who are wishing for an easy life as they axe and
privatise public service jobs and introduce further forms of taxes, be
it a water tax or something else by the back door.
"It is up to each and everyone of us be it here in Derry or elsewhere
in the northwest to organise both within each and every community and
workplace organisation. For republican socialists we call for all
those opposed it to directly get involved in developing an organised
united campaign of mass rejection and non-payment which will show the
councils, Stormont, and the Northern Ireland Office where they can
stick their Water Tax."
Mr. Hogan concluded: "The next public meeting will take place on
December 7th at the Ballymagroarty & Hazelbank Community Centre and
everyone is welcome to come along. Can I again remind everyone that it
is up to all of us to make sure that nobody feels left out, abandoned
or isolated. We must ensure that everyone has the full backing and
support of their neighbours, workmates and any local campaign groups.
WE CAN DEFEAT THIS, AS THEY CAN’T JAIL US ALL!"
*******
FROM THE NEWSPAPERS
*
The US Casualty Rate in Iraq: 9%
The US casualty rate in Iraq is about 9%, according to Editor &
Publisher:
The Pentagon's latest official count, provided on Wednesday, listed
1230 American military killed in Iraq and another 9300 U.S. troops
wounded in action. How seriously? More than 5000 of them were too
badly injured to return to duty. More than 850 troops were reported to
have been wounded in action in Falluja so far.
But this only scratches the surface of the total toll.
Earlier this week, CBS's "60 Minutes" revealed that it had received a
letter from the Pentagon declaring: "More than 15,000 troops with
so-called 'non-battle' injuries and diseases have been evacuated from
Iraq."
These include serious injuries that arise from accidents (vehicular
and otherwise), trauma and severe psychiatric problems. The number is
in line with estimates offered earlier this year by United Press
International, based on arrivals at the main treatment center in
Landstuhl, Germany.
Some of these Landstuhl cases are not serious but according to "60
Minutes" only 20 percent of the evacuees return to their units in
Iraq.
The total number of casualties is about 25,000, plus the more than
1,200 killed. Since about 300,000 men and women have served in Iraq,
it makes for a casualty rate of about 9%. (Emphasis added, Editor &
Publisher, "Press Routinely Undercounts U.S. Casualties in Iraq,"
November 25, 2004
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000727180
In other words, US soldiers deployed in Iraq have nearly a one-in-ten
chance of getting killed, physically wounded, or psychologically
traumatised.
*
Indian Soil Used for Counter-insurgency Training!
In a report that appeared in the October 3, 2004 issue of The
Statesman it said:
"Some 120 Km. from the Mizoram capital of Aizal the training school
tucked away somewhere amid thousands of hectares in the vicinity is
probably like no other in the world. The army's Counter Insurgency and
Jungle Warfare School operates. The Six Week training schedule is
rigorous and includes raiding terrorist hideouts, fending for oneself
in unfriendly situations, honing firing skills against unconventional
targets, rescuing hostage and mastering the art of intervention.
The Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School has been training
armed forces and police personnel. Already over 300,000 personnel from
countries that include the USA, Nepal, Iraq, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and
Afghanistan learned to live by the school's motto: fight the guerrilla
like a guerrilla. Brigadier Ponwar says the main objective involves
training in the latest technology to combat terrorism.
With the 9/11 attacks armies around the world have been to reorient
their fighting forces in learning how to fight unconventional wars.
In March this year, US soldiers enrolled for jungle warfare training
– the first joint infantry exercise between the two countries.
This proved a unique opportunity for the Americans because the "USA
does not have a jungle warfare school", says Brigadier Ponwar "And we
also learnt many things from the US troops. Our trainers went to
Israel and other countries and that's how we've come to know about
their expertise", he added.
The Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School is now planning ahead
to meet the challenges of modern day counter-insurgency operations in
both rural and urban areas."
It is very clear from this that the US and Indian forces are more
closely collaborating to crush revolutionary movements in this region.
This training course in not only target against the Maoist and
nationality movements in India, but also the movements like the CPN
(Maoist) in Nepal and other armed struggles in Bangladesh, and Sri
Lanka. The school produces assassins, killers, murderers and the most
ruthless counter-revolutionary forces on the region. The US
involvement in such training amounts to direct military intervention
of foreign forces in our country. But all the parliamentary riff-raff
are silent. The people must vehement oppose the presence of foreign
troops on Indian soil.
(From The Statesman in the UK and an Indian publication, Peoples
March.)
*
An Enemy of the State
By George Galloway
(London Guardian, Friday, December 3, 2004)
When the 17th-century republican Algernon Sidney spoke on Tower Hill
before his beheading on false charges almost exactly 321 years ago, he
observed "the whole matter is reduced to the papers said to have been
found in my closet by the King's officers". In the days after Baghdad
fell to US forces last April, all manner of closets spilled forth
papers - remarkably often to the Telegraph group of newspapers. In
quick succession, their reporters claimed to have found, in a series
of burning buildings, documents linking Saddam Hussein with Osama bin
Laden, tales of French and Russian perfidy, and the papers they used
to smear me as being in the pay of the Iraqi regime.
Like the paperwork on which the case for the war itself was built,
these all turned out to be bunkum, bogus or doctored. A Daily
Telegraph reporter, Philip Smucker, came up with his own documents for
the US Christian Science Monitor, making similar claims. The Mail on
Sunday purchased still more documentation, putting my supposed
"earnings" from Saddam and his family into a £20m-plus
stratosphere. Both were shown to be forgeries. One by one these
assaults by the pro-war media foundered on a large and immovable rock
- none of them was true.
Eighteen months and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths further
on, the Daily Telegraph has been given a judicial thrashing at the
high court, which will have stung more powerfully than any its public
schoolboy editors endured in their younger days. Well over seven
figures of damages and costs, combined with Mr Justice Eady's damning
judgment, must have made the paper's new owners smart at the damage
done to the Telegraph's reputation by the old regime of Lord Conrad
Black, Barbara Amiel and fox-hunter Charles Moore.
Over several days and dozens of articles, the Telegraph tried
comprehensively to discredit me and the wider anti-war movement. As
Neil Darbyshire, the paper's executive editor, said to explain why the
paper rushed into print: "The Iraq war was at a volatile stage and Mr
Galloway was unceasing in his opposition". And when they couldn't
stand their story up they sought refuge in the coward's defence that
they had never suggested the lurid claims they published had been true
- but merely "neutral reportage" in the public interest. Even a blind
man in a hurry could see that, in the words of Mr Justice Eady, "the
nature, content and tone of their coverage cannot be so described".
But as most British people now believe, the entire case for the war
was based on falsehoods and lies. From the forged papers showing Iraq
buying nuclear materials from Niger to the pulp fiction of the
Campbell-Scarlett dossiers, one of the grossest deceptions in modern
history has been practised upon us.
There is a long tradition in Britain of attempts by governments and
media to use false allegations about foreign cash to discredit those
who refuse to bend to the powers-that-be, from the Zinoviev letters to
the Scargill affair. The Telegraph, a chief cheerleader for the Iraq
war, together with the media empire of another foreign press baron,
Rupert Murdoch, tried to paint me as a treasonous "enemy of the
state", and the anti-war movement as the "enemy within". But the real
enemies of the state are the political leaders, pre-eminently the
prime minister, who deceived the country into a disastrous military
adventure which has devastated a foreign land and disfigured the face
of international affairs. And the real enemies within are the
pusillanimous poodles in parliament and press who allowed, and are
still allowing them, to get away with it.
The Telegraph did me and the anti-war movement an injustice and the
judge held it to account. But the Blair government - which used the
Telegraph's assault to force me out of a Labour party I'd served for
36 years - has committed an incomparably greater injustice. Iraq was
invaded on trumped-up charges. As a result, an estimated 100,000
Iraqis have died; the lives of millions more have been wrecked. This
week we learned the conditions of child health in a land occupied are
now even worse than during the killing years of sanctions. Yet not a
single government minister has fallen. No official has been sacked.
Alastair Campbell has become a highly paid raconteur and talk show
host. John Scarlett, unblushing, has been promoted to head the Secret
Intelligence Service. The guilty men in Whitehall and Westminster
remain unpunished.
Now the stain on my name has been removed, I intend to step up my
efforts, with others both inside and outside parliament, to harry and
hold to account those responsible for the crimes of the Iraq war.
[George Galloway is Respect MP for Glasgow Kelvin and a columnist for
the Scottish Mail on Sunday]
gallowayg@parliament.uk
*******
LETTERS
*
Letter from Iraqi Patriotic Alliance addressed to our brothers all
around the world
The Iraqi resistance is confronting the illegitimate and brutal
Zionist Imperialist occupation of Iraq. Our resistance is legitimate
according to international law and the UN Charter, including the right
to resort to armed means. We are claiming our right to national
self-determination and a real sovereignty
The different resisting groups in Iraq have developed a network
between each other in order to achieve their ultimate goal. This goal
was clearly addressed in their political program released after the
liberation of Fallujah in April this year (2004). The program of the
Iraqi resistance is as follows:
1. End the occupation and liberate the country
2. Transition period of 2 years
3. Iraq united - National government for all
4. Iraqi constitution written by Iraqis themselves
5. Democratic rules
6. Free election and full participation of the different political
parties
To implement the strategy of liberation, the Iraqi resistance is
attacking occupying forces and their institutions and those who serve
them with food, oil and other supplies. On the other hand, the Iraqi
resistance is preventing the occupiers from using Oil as a political
means.
Schools, churches, mosques and other civilian places have never been
the target of the Iraqi resistance. Besides, we have to be very
critical and careful about any kidnapping or killing process of a
foreigner-worker in Iraq. The resistance has no benefit in attacking
people like Margaret Hassan, two Simonas or others. These actions are
meant to discredit the legal resistance of our people. Here, we would
like to share with you some of the heroic achievements of the Iraqi
resistance: The Iraqi resistance was able to cause a high number of
casualties in material and soldiers among the occupying forces.
The resistance fighters were able to liberate 30 cities: creating a
suitable environment for the resistant fighters by forming a
death-zone for the occupying forces and their agents.
The Iraqi resistance has defeated the Spanish imperialism and has
forced 9 out of the occupying/allying countries to leave Iraq. The
Netherlands, Hungary and Poland are leaving Iraq next year.
The Iraqi resistance was able to pull plunder companies out of Iraq,
the so-called contractors, rebuilding companies.
The Iraqi resistance has renewed the spirit of resistance in the whole
world by defeating the US imperialism in Fallujah, Al Samawa, Najaf
and other Iraqi cities.
The heroic resistance in Iraq has isolated UK and US in Iraq,
preventing temporary the go-on of the war on terror against: Syria,
Cuba and North Korea.
The resistance in Iraq is the resistance of the Iraqi people and it is
mainly represented by the major political groups; the Patriotic,
Islamic and the Pan-Arab groups. By this, we want to emphasis on the
fact that our resistance has an anti-imperialistic profile with
Islamic and patriotic elements. Adding on that, the effective
participation of members of the dismantled Iraqi army and the Ba'ath
party. We could expect some objections about the participation of the
Ba'ath party in the resistance. There are more than three million
active Ba'ath party members in Iraq. So, when we mention members of
this party we do not mean only- those who were in the former Iraqi
government. But those who believe in the Ba'ath ideology expressed in
their slogan: Unity, Liberty and Socialism.
The fear of the Islamic character of the Iraqi resistance could be
answered by the fact that after the liberation of Iraq, the Iraqi
resistance will then be the only legitimized representative of the
Iraqi people. A transition period will then give the Iraqi people the
chance to choose their representatives to form a united national
government with full participation of all parties including the
Islamic forces. We have then to accept the choice of the Iraqi people.
As to the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance, we are proud to inform you that
our secretary general in Iraq Mr. Abduljabbar al-Kubaysi was arrested
on 3rd of September in Baghdad. The house he had temporarily stayed in
was surrounded and stormed by about 50 US occupation soldiers
employing helicopters and tanks. Mr. Al-Kubaysi was leading the IPA
since the 90?s against the economic sanctions and the Zionistic and
imperialistic plans of the US in Iraq. During his latest activities
building a united political front of the resistance against the
occupation, he was arrested without any charges. At this moment we
know nothing about his situation. Even his family is unable to contact
hem. We hold the occupying forces responsible for the health and life
of Mr. Al-Kubaysi and all other prisoners in Iraq.
We hope for further coordination between you and us in our shared
struggle against occupation and imperialism.
Long Live the Iraqi Resistance!
In Solidarity,
Nada Al-Rubaiee [on behalf of the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance (IPA)]
Tel: 0031- (0)-645542498
patrioticalliance@zonnet.nl
Iraqi_women@hotmail.com
http://home.zonnet.nl/patrioticalliance/
*
Greetings from Al-Awda New York/Labor for Palestine!
Labor For Palestine (LFP), a new campaign, is launching and needs your
support and involvement! If you are part of a labor union or
progressive social organization, please visit the LFP web site:
http://www.al-awdany.org/lfp/ and fill out the online endorsement
form. Endorsements are crucial to the existence and effectiveness of
this campaign. There is a great deal of important and useful
information available on the LFP Web site.
Let me direct your attention to the "Labor in Palestine" link on the
site, where you will find LFP's first initiative to defend the
Palestine-based Workers Advice Centre (WAC). The WAC, which represents
the rights of Arab workers, has been shut down by the Israeli
authorities and they (WAC) need our solidarity and support!
Please endorse online!
http://www.al-awdany.org/lfp/
*
New Hands Off Venezuela website
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/
The Hands Off Venezuela campaign has launched a new, redesigned
website. From now on the site will be updated on an almost daily
basis, covering events related to the Bolivarian revolution. Make sure
to pay a visit and sign the appeal!
Over 30 people attended the picket on Homefinders this week organised
by the South Belfast ARN. Despite the bitter cold the mood of the
protestors was resolute and good-natured. We made it clear that we
were protesting at the refusal by Homefinders to publicly announce an
end to their practice of 'racial vetting'.
People were determined to keep up the pressure and the attendance by
half a dozen QUB students opened the possibility of bringing a student
boycott about if necessary.
The next meeting of the South Belfast ARN will take place next
Wednesday at 8pm in Esquires on Botanic Ave. We urge anybody who
wants to get involved with anti-racism in the South Belfast area to
come along. You will be most welcome. We will discuss Homefinders
and the Anti-Racism/Pro-Diversity gig that the group are organising
for late January. If you know of any bands/artists that wish to take
part, get in touch.
We have finally managed to get our email system from the group up and
running. In the next few days many of you will receive this same
email direct from the SB group - apologies in advance for the
repetition. (It is not possible to tell which list people are signed
on to). If you do not wish to be notified of South Belfast activities
(we will not be offended) please send an email to our email address
with TAKE OFF in the Subject box.
Cheers
Mark Hewitt, Barbara Muldoon, Mick Scott
*
Dear Friend,
You are invited to attend the next meeting Cawp organising meeting.
It will be held in the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre in Donegall
Street on Thursday 9 December 2004. The meeting should begin at
7.30pm.
Yours sincerely,
Jonathan Morrison
(on behalf of the Campaign Against Water Privatization)
*
Press Release: 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
Date: 1/12/04. For Immediate Release. Contact - 07801 729412
32 County Sovereignty Movement Praises Brendan O'Connor's Release.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement is thankful to hear of the release
earlier today of Republican prisoner Brendan O'Connor from Pomeroy.
Brendan was arrested and detained by British occupation forces and
detained in Maghaberry Jail on an alleged charge of conspiring to
destroy Stewartstown Police station with an explosive device in July
2000.
Ever since his arrest the 32 County Sovereignty Movement along with
the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association had expressed our
concern over what we considered to be trumped up charges against him.
Again, as in the case of Martin Brogan, Mark Carroll and Seamus
Doherty (all of whom have likewise been released) the issue at the
heart of the matter is one of 'dodgy evidence' and the likelihood of
tampering and fabrication surrounding supposed DNA finds.
Ever since the Brogan and Carroll case, we along with other supporters
have asked the question "how many others?” We take no pleasure in
finding ourselves right once again and point instead to this as
further confirmation of the continuing corruption inherent within the
Six County State.
ERNI LYNCH
http://www.32csm.netfirms.com/
*******
WHAT'S ON
*
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
Picket 6pm and 8pm Friday 10th December 2004 in Whitehall, opposite
Downing Street
End Human Rights Violations in Colombia
No Military Support for Uribe Regime
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was approved by the
UN General Assembly in 1948. Yet 56 years later, and despite the
ratification by Colombia of all the International Covenants that
followed the UDHR, the Colombian people continue to suffer gross
violations of their civil and political rights, but also of economic,
social and cultural rights. In the context of war that the country
endures, the state's repressive policies and impunity for right-wing
paramilitary groups fuels further violations. President Uribe has
opted for war and blocked the path to peace.
All principal articles of the UDHR are violated. Here are some
examples:
Article 2: everyone is entitled to rights without distinctions --
indigenous peoples such as the U'wa, Wayuu, Kankuamo and the Embera
Katios are being discriminated against on the basis of their ethnicity
and their struggle for autonomy, culture and land.
Article 3: the right to life, liberty and security of person -- is not
being observed, as shown by the assassinations of trade unionists,
social leaders and even students by paramilitary groups, often with
the complicity of the state forces. These rights are further
threatened by the US military intervention programme Plan Colombia.
Article 7: All are equal before the law and entitled to its
protection, under Uribe, the state has blurred the distinction between
armed combatants and the civilian population. The victims of state
sponsored paramilitary violence are unprotected, yet the authors of
blood crimes and harassment of the population go free, especially when
members of the armed forces (army and police) are involved.
Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or
exile, detentions have increased to more than fifty thousand. We
highlight the cases of Luz Perly Córdoba, Human Rights Secretary of
the agricultural workers union FENSUAGRO detained on 18th February
2004, and Samuel Morales, President of the Arauca Regional Committee
of the CUT trade union federation and Raquel Castro a teacher were
arrested in an early morning army raid on 5th August 2004 in which
three of their fellow leaders were assassinated.
Article 13 the right to freedom of movement and Article 17 no one
shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property: peasants, African
descendants and indigenous communities are violently driven off their
lands to make way for multinationals like BP. There are 3 million
displaced people.
Article 19: the right to freedom of expression. Social leaders,
lawyers and trade unionists who oppose the government's neo-liberal
policies are treated as military targets. Documents reveal
Operation Dragon, in which military intelligence has targeted the
entire leadership of public sector union SINTRAEMCALI and listed 80
opposition politicians for close surveillance, the normal prelude to
elimination.
Article 23 the right to work and form a trade union: last year 681
trade unionists received death threats, and 47 were assassinated
between January and August 2004. The trade unionists killed while
protecting the interests of their fellow workers in Coca-Cola bottling
plants shows just how vulnerable is the realisation of this right.
Elections in Colombia are not free. Uribe is now trying to change the
constitution so that he can gain a second 4 year term, with full
backing from Bush and an international media offensive to clean his
image.
British government support for Uribe helps whitewash a regime
responsible for the worst violations in the western hemisphere.
Despite a motion signed by 237 MPs calling for an end to it, Tony
Blair still supplies military aid. Now is the time for decent people
to insist on a change in policy.
FINANCIAL APPEAL:
We ask you to make a special donation to support our human rights and
campaigning work. Donations payable to Colombia Solidarity Campaign?
and send to: Colombia Solidarity Campaign, PO Box 8446, London N17
6NZ.
Many thanks.
Colombia Solidarity Campaign
PO Box 8446
London N17 6NZ
Tel: 07743 743041
Email: colombia_sc@hotmail.com
http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/
*
10 December 2004
Women's Rights are Human Rights - summit conference
Women into Politics will mark International Human Rights Day with a
conference on Globalisation and the challenges for Women's
participation and leadership. This conference entitled Women's
Participation and Leadership in Global Processes is a summit following
a series of workshops on globalisation and its impact on women's lives
-- locally and globally. The day is dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, the
Burmese pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
The summit will address themes that increasingly define our world and
that pose enormous challenges to women, women's movements and
feminists worldwide. The conference takes place on 10 December 2004
in Grosvenor House, Glengall Street, Belfast, from 9.00am to 4.00pm
and will analyse the diverse forms of globalisation in local,
regional, and global arenas and its impact on communities and on every
woman’s right to participate at all levels of society and will
also explore ways of showing global solidarity.
There are limited places left so please contact Carola Speth on tel:
028 9024 3363 or email: dialogue@womenintopolitics.org to register.
*
INVITATION TO THE THIRD EDITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL DAYS OF STRUGGLE
AGAINST ISOLATION
This year we are going to organize the activities in relation with the
"International Days of Struggle against Isolation" with an
international symposium against isolation in Berlin.
THE PROGRAM FOR THE THIRD YEAR
15-18 December 2004, Berlin
15-17 December: Symposium
18 December: International Festival
Venue:
Alte Feuerwache
Axel-Springer-Str. 40/41
10969 Berlin
Public transport:
U6 Kochstrasse
U2 Spittelmarkt
PROGRAM
15 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-11.00
Opening
11.00-13.00
IRELAND
Speakers: IRSP, IRPWA, Marion Price (Veteran of the 1981 hunger
strike)
13.00-14.00
Lunch
14.00-17.00:
PALESTINE / IRAQ
Speakers: Addameer (Palestine), IKP (Cadre), Iraqi patriotic alliance,
Cihan Keskek (Turkey, human shield), Azmet Begg (England, father of a
Guantanamo captive)
17.00-18.30
Dinner
18.30-21.00
THE GREAT RESISTANCE AGAINST ISOLATION IN TURKEY AND HUMAN RIGHT
VIOLATIONS
Speakers: Ahmet Kulaksiz (father of Canan and Zehra who died both by
Death Fast), Niyazi Agirman (his son hanged himself in an F-type cell
and his daughter was killed some weeks ago by the army), Cezmi
Ersöz (writer), a Death Fast veteran, Feleknaz Uca (Deputy of the
European Parliament, PDS), Rüdiger Göbel (editor of the daily
newspaper Junge Welt), Paola Cecchi (Women International League for
Peace and Freedom)
16 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-12.30
BASQUE COUNTRY, SPAIN-FRANCE
Speakers: Behatokia (Basque Observatory of Human Rights), Askatasuna,
Ex-prisoner from Basque country, Endavant (Catalonia)
12.30-14.00
Lunch
14.00-16.30:
CUBAN 5, MUMIA ABU JAMAL
Speakers: Cuba Si, FG BRD-Cuba, representative of Cuban embassy,
Basta Ya, James Cockroft
16.30-18.30
Dinner
18.30-21.00
BLACK LIST, OPERATION OF 1st APRIL
Speakers: International Platform against Isolation, Naime Kara,
Nazmiye Kaya, Mehmet Göçebe, CAMPACC (England), Bernd Häusler
(Representative for human rights of the bar association in Berlin)
17 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-13.30:
General plenum:
Speakers-representation: Greece (Greek Social Forum, Lawyer
Rollhäuser), Italy (Assamblea Nazionale Anticapitalista,
Associazione
Solidarieta Proletaria, Senza Censura) Germany (Spartakisten,
Internationale Solidarität), Palestine (Palestinian community-
Austria) Nepal (Nepalese People's Progressive Forum), Iran, Turkey
(Anatolian federation), Sweden, Denmark (Internationalt Forum,
Opror), Austria (International Solidarity forum) Peru, Chile
(Colectivo Europeo Contra la Impunidad), Marocco (Annahj
Addimocrati), Algeria (PADS) etc.
13.30-15.00
Lunch
15.00-17.00:
END DECLARATION AND ASSESSMENTS.
Information number und email-address:
isolation@post.com
0049-163-8003094
Or
0032-2-2300688
*******
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*
Support the IRSP
Standing Order Form
To the Manager First Trust Bank, Andersonstown.
Please pay First Trust Bank Andersonstown Branch, Belfast, and credit
to Irish Republican Socialist Party, A/C Number 70490021, Branch Code
93-84-75
The sum of:
Amount in words:
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Volume 2, Number 16
6 December 2004
E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1. Prisoners Month
2. Class Unity Will Defeat Privatisation & Water Tax!
3. From the Newspapers
4. Letters
5. What's On
*******
PRISONERS MONTH
In a Dublin City venue at 8pm, Saturday the 18th of December,
traditionally known as Prisoners Month, the Irish Republican Socialist
Party will be hosting a benefit night to raise funds for republican
socialist prisoners and their dependents. It will feature a sponsored
hair-shaving event with participation from current and ex-prisoners
and IRSP members and supporters. There will be music and ballads by
Beggars Bush and a fundraising draw on the night, prizes to include
Portlaoise hand-crafted mirrors and bodhrans plus a Castlerea Harp,
and an auction of a specially commissioned painting of Michael Collins
by renowned artist, Mr. Eddie Garland.
Admission is 5 euro only and is by ticket only, for more information
e-mail Dublinirsp@hotmail.com.
For those (particularly our friends and supporters in America, Sweden,
Canada, England, Scotland, and Wales, etc.) who wish to make a
donation or indeed provide sponsorship via account transfer, please
credit Allied Irish Bank, Capel Street Branch, Dublin 7, Account
Number 19186018, Branch Code 931101.
Remember the prisoners and their families this Xmas.
*******
CLASS UNITY WILL DEFEAT PRIVATISATION & WATER TAX!
Irish Republican Socialist Party representative John Hogan has
expressed anger at any possible introduction of a Water Tax and has
called on working class communities to avail of continuing public
meetings within the city to voice their opposition to it.
Mr Hogan said, "The constant drip, drip, dripping of information and
news stories churned out in recent months has everyone's head turned
when it comes to the issues involved with water charges. Our party has
attended what hopes to be a series of community public meetings in an
effort to create a confident grass-roots fight back against any
possible job cuts or the introduction of a Water Tax.
"There is sadly a strategy now in motion to frighten people into
accepting that they are in a no-win situation. That is simply music to
the ears of those who are wishing for an easy life as they axe and
privatise public service jobs and introduce further forms of taxes, be
it a water tax or something else by the back door.
"It is up to each and everyone of us be it here in Derry or elsewhere
in the northwest to organise both within each and every community and
workplace organisation. For republican socialists we call for all
those opposed it to directly get involved in developing an organised
united campaign of mass rejection and non-payment which will show the
councils, Stormont, and the Northern Ireland Office where they can
stick their Water Tax."
Mr. Hogan concluded: "The next public meeting will take place on
December 7th at the Ballymagroarty & Hazelbank Community Centre and
everyone is welcome to come along. Can I again remind everyone that it
is up to all of us to make sure that nobody feels left out, abandoned
or isolated. We must ensure that everyone has the full backing and
support of their neighbours, workmates and any local campaign groups.
WE CAN DEFEAT THIS, AS THEY CAN’T JAIL US ALL!"
*******
FROM THE NEWSPAPERS
*
The US Casualty Rate in Iraq: 9%
The US casualty rate in Iraq is about 9%, according to Editor &
Publisher:
The Pentagon's latest official count, provided on Wednesday, listed
1230 American military killed in Iraq and another 9300 U.S. troops
wounded in action. How seriously? More than 5000 of them were too
badly injured to return to duty. More than 850 troops were reported to
have been wounded in action in Falluja so far.
But this only scratches the surface of the total toll.
Earlier this week, CBS's "60 Minutes" revealed that it had received a
letter from the Pentagon declaring: "More than 15,000 troops with
so-called 'non-battle' injuries and diseases have been evacuated from
Iraq."
These include serious injuries that arise from accidents (vehicular
and otherwise), trauma and severe psychiatric problems. The number is
in line with estimates offered earlier this year by United Press
International, based on arrivals at the main treatment center in
Landstuhl, Germany.
Some of these Landstuhl cases are not serious but according to "60
Minutes" only 20 percent of the evacuees return to their units in
Iraq.
The total number of casualties is about 25,000, plus the more than
1,200 killed. Since about 300,000 men and women have served in Iraq,
it makes for a casualty rate of about 9%. (Emphasis added, Editor &
Publisher, "Press Routinely Undercounts U.S. Casualties in Iraq,"
November 25, 2004
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000727180
In other words, US soldiers deployed in Iraq have nearly a one-in-ten
chance of getting killed, physically wounded, or psychologically
traumatised.
*
Indian Soil Used for Counter-insurgency Training!
In a report that appeared in the October 3, 2004 issue of The
Statesman it said:
"Some 120 Km. from the Mizoram capital of Aizal the training school
tucked away somewhere amid thousands of hectares in the vicinity is
probably like no other in the world. The army's Counter Insurgency and
Jungle Warfare School operates. The Six Week training schedule is
rigorous and includes raiding terrorist hideouts, fending for oneself
in unfriendly situations, honing firing skills against unconventional
targets, rescuing hostage and mastering the art of intervention.
The Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School has been training
armed forces and police personnel. Already over 300,000 personnel from
countries that include the USA, Nepal, Iraq, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and
Afghanistan learned to live by the school's motto: fight the guerrilla
like a guerrilla. Brigadier Ponwar says the main objective involves
training in the latest technology to combat terrorism.
With the 9/11 attacks armies around the world have been to reorient
their fighting forces in learning how to fight unconventional wars.
In March this year, US soldiers enrolled for jungle warfare training
– the first joint infantry exercise between the two countries.
This proved a unique opportunity for the Americans because the "USA
does not have a jungle warfare school", says Brigadier Ponwar "And we
also learnt many things from the US troops. Our trainers went to
Israel and other countries and that's how we've come to know about
their expertise", he added.
The Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School is now planning ahead
to meet the challenges of modern day counter-insurgency operations in
both rural and urban areas."
It is very clear from this that the US and Indian forces are more
closely collaborating to crush revolutionary movements in this region.
This training course in not only target against the Maoist and
nationality movements in India, but also the movements like the CPN
(Maoist) in Nepal and other armed struggles in Bangladesh, and Sri
Lanka. The school produces assassins, killers, murderers and the most
ruthless counter-revolutionary forces on the region. The US
involvement in such training amounts to direct military intervention
of foreign forces in our country. But all the parliamentary riff-raff
are silent. The people must vehement oppose the presence of foreign
troops on Indian soil.
(From The Statesman in the UK and an Indian publication, Peoples
March.)
*
An Enemy of the State
By George Galloway
(London Guardian, Friday, December 3, 2004)
When the 17th-century republican Algernon Sidney spoke on Tower Hill
before his beheading on false charges almost exactly 321 years ago, he
observed "the whole matter is reduced to the papers said to have been
found in my closet by the King's officers". In the days after Baghdad
fell to US forces last April, all manner of closets spilled forth
papers - remarkably often to the Telegraph group of newspapers. In
quick succession, their reporters claimed to have found, in a series
of burning buildings, documents linking Saddam Hussein with Osama bin
Laden, tales of French and Russian perfidy, and the papers they used
to smear me as being in the pay of the Iraqi regime.
Like the paperwork on which the case for the war itself was built,
these all turned out to be bunkum, bogus or doctored. A Daily
Telegraph reporter, Philip Smucker, came up with his own documents for
the US Christian Science Monitor, making similar claims. The Mail on
Sunday purchased still more documentation, putting my supposed
"earnings" from Saddam and his family into a £20m-plus
stratosphere. Both were shown to be forgeries. One by one these
assaults by the pro-war media foundered on a large and immovable rock
- none of them was true.
Eighteen months and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths further
on, the Daily Telegraph has been given a judicial thrashing at the
high court, which will have stung more powerfully than any its public
schoolboy editors endured in their younger days. Well over seven
figures of damages and costs, combined with Mr Justice Eady's damning
judgment, must have made the paper's new owners smart at the damage
done to the Telegraph's reputation by the old regime of Lord Conrad
Black, Barbara Amiel and fox-hunter Charles Moore.
Over several days and dozens of articles, the Telegraph tried
comprehensively to discredit me and the wider anti-war movement. As
Neil Darbyshire, the paper's executive editor, said to explain why the
paper rushed into print: "The Iraq war was at a volatile stage and Mr
Galloway was unceasing in his opposition". And when they couldn't
stand their story up they sought refuge in the coward's defence that
they had never suggested the lurid claims they published had been true
- but merely "neutral reportage" in the public interest. Even a blind
man in a hurry could see that, in the words of Mr Justice Eady, "the
nature, content and tone of their coverage cannot be so described".
But as most British people now believe, the entire case for the war
was based on falsehoods and lies. From the forged papers showing Iraq
buying nuclear materials from Niger to the pulp fiction of the
Campbell-Scarlett dossiers, one of the grossest deceptions in modern
history has been practised upon us.
There is a long tradition in Britain of attempts by governments and
media to use false allegations about foreign cash to discredit those
who refuse to bend to the powers-that-be, from the Zinoviev letters to
the Scargill affair. The Telegraph, a chief cheerleader for the Iraq
war, together with the media empire of another foreign press baron,
Rupert Murdoch, tried to paint me as a treasonous "enemy of the
state", and the anti-war movement as the "enemy within". But the real
enemies of the state are the political leaders, pre-eminently the
prime minister, who deceived the country into a disastrous military
adventure which has devastated a foreign land and disfigured the face
of international affairs. And the real enemies within are the
pusillanimous poodles in parliament and press who allowed, and are
still allowing them, to get away with it.
The Telegraph did me and the anti-war movement an injustice and the
judge held it to account. But the Blair government - which used the
Telegraph's assault to force me out of a Labour party I'd served for
36 years - has committed an incomparably greater injustice. Iraq was
invaded on trumped-up charges. As a result, an estimated 100,000
Iraqis have died; the lives of millions more have been wrecked. This
week we learned the conditions of child health in a land occupied are
now even worse than during the killing years of sanctions. Yet not a
single government minister has fallen. No official has been sacked.
Alastair Campbell has become a highly paid raconteur and talk show
host. John Scarlett, unblushing, has been promoted to head the Secret
Intelligence Service. The guilty men in Whitehall and Westminster
remain unpunished.
Now the stain on my name has been removed, I intend to step up my
efforts, with others both inside and outside parliament, to harry and
hold to account those responsible for the crimes of the Iraq war.
[George Galloway is Respect MP for Glasgow Kelvin and a columnist for
the Scottish Mail on Sunday]
gallowayg@parliament.uk
*******
LETTERS
*
Letter from Iraqi Patriotic Alliance addressed to our brothers all
around the world
The Iraqi resistance is confronting the illegitimate and brutal
Zionist Imperialist occupation of Iraq. Our resistance is legitimate
according to international law and the UN Charter, including the right
to resort to armed means. We are claiming our right to national
self-determination and a real sovereignty
The different resisting groups in Iraq have developed a network
between each other in order to achieve their ultimate goal. This goal
was clearly addressed in their political program released after the
liberation of Fallujah in April this year (2004). The program of the
Iraqi resistance is as follows:
1. End the occupation and liberate the country
2. Transition period of 2 years
3. Iraq united - National government for all
4. Iraqi constitution written by Iraqis themselves
5. Democratic rules
6. Free election and full participation of the different political
parties
To implement the strategy of liberation, the Iraqi resistance is
attacking occupying forces and their institutions and those who serve
them with food, oil and other supplies. On the other hand, the Iraqi
resistance is preventing the occupiers from using Oil as a political
means.
Schools, churches, mosques and other civilian places have never been
the target of the Iraqi resistance. Besides, we have to be very
critical and careful about any kidnapping or killing process of a
foreigner-worker in Iraq. The resistance has no benefit in attacking
people like Margaret Hassan, two Simonas or others. These actions are
meant to discredit the legal resistance of our people. Here, we would
like to share with you some of the heroic achievements of the Iraqi
resistance: The Iraqi resistance was able to cause a high number of
casualties in material and soldiers among the occupying forces.
The resistance fighters were able to liberate 30 cities: creating a
suitable environment for the resistant fighters by forming a
death-zone for the occupying forces and their agents.
The Iraqi resistance has defeated the Spanish imperialism and has
forced 9 out of the occupying/allying countries to leave Iraq. The
Netherlands, Hungary and Poland are leaving Iraq next year.
The Iraqi resistance was able to pull plunder companies out of Iraq,
the so-called contractors, rebuilding companies.
The Iraqi resistance has renewed the spirit of resistance in the whole
world by defeating the US imperialism in Fallujah, Al Samawa, Najaf
and other Iraqi cities.
The heroic resistance in Iraq has isolated UK and US in Iraq,
preventing temporary the go-on of the war on terror against: Syria,
Cuba and North Korea.
The resistance in Iraq is the resistance of the Iraqi people and it is
mainly represented by the major political groups; the Patriotic,
Islamic and the Pan-Arab groups. By this, we want to emphasis on the
fact that our resistance has an anti-imperialistic profile with
Islamic and patriotic elements. Adding on that, the effective
participation of members of the dismantled Iraqi army and the Ba'ath
party. We could expect some objections about the participation of the
Ba'ath party in the resistance. There are more than three million
active Ba'ath party members in Iraq. So, when we mention members of
this party we do not mean only- those who were in the former Iraqi
government. But those who believe in the Ba'ath ideology expressed in
their slogan: Unity, Liberty and Socialism.
The fear of the Islamic character of the Iraqi resistance could be
answered by the fact that after the liberation of Iraq, the Iraqi
resistance will then be the only legitimized representative of the
Iraqi people. A transition period will then give the Iraqi people the
chance to choose their representatives to form a united national
government with full participation of all parties including the
Islamic forces. We have then to accept the choice of the Iraqi people.
As to the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance, we are proud to inform you that
our secretary general in Iraq Mr. Abduljabbar al-Kubaysi was arrested
on 3rd of September in Baghdad. The house he had temporarily stayed in
was surrounded and stormed by about 50 US occupation soldiers
employing helicopters and tanks. Mr. Al-Kubaysi was leading the IPA
since the 90?s against the economic sanctions and the Zionistic and
imperialistic plans of the US in Iraq. During his latest activities
building a united political front of the resistance against the
occupation, he was arrested without any charges. At this moment we
know nothing about his situation. Even his family is unable to contact
hem. We hold the occupying forces responsible for the health and life
of Mr. Al-Kubaysi and all other prisoners in Iraq.
We hope for further coordination between you and us in our shared
struggle against occupation and imperialism.
Long Live the Iraqi Resistance!
In Solidarity,
Nada Al-Rubaiee [on behalf of the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance (IPA)]
Tel: 0031- (0)-645542498
patrioticalliance@zonnet.nl
Iraqi_women@hotmail.com
http://home.zonnet.nl/patrioticalliance/
*
Greetings from Al-Awda New York/Labor for Palestine!
Labor For Palestine (LFP), a new campaign, is launching and needs your
support and involvement! If you are part of a labor union or
progressive social organization, please visit the LFP web site:
http://www.al-awdany.org/lfp/ and fill out the online endorsement
form. Endorsements are crucial to the existence and effectiveness of
this campaign. There is a great deal of important and useful
information available on the LFP Web site.
Let me direct your attention to the "Labor in Palestine" link on the
site, where you will find LFP's first initiative to defend the
Palestine-based Workers Advice Centre (WAC). The WAC, which represents
the rights of Arab workers, has been shut down by the Israeli
authorities and they (WAC) need our solidarity and support!
Please endorse online!
http://www.al-awdany.org/lfp/
*
New Hands Off Venezuela website
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/
The Hands Off Venezuela campaign has launched a new, redesigned
website. From now on the site will be updated on an almost daily
basis, covering events related to the Bolivarian revolution. Make sure
to pay a visit and sign the appeal!
Over 30 people attended the picket on Homefinders this week organised
by the South Belfast ARN. Despite the bitter cold the mood of the
protestors was resolute and good-natured. We made it clear that we
were protesting at the refusal by Homefinders to publicly announce an
end to their practice of 'racial vetting'.
People were determined to keep up the pressure and the attendance by
half a dozen QUB students opened the possibility of bringing a student
boycott about if necessary.
The next meeting of the South Belfast ARN will take place next
Wednesday at 8pm in Esquires on Botanic Ave. We urge anybody who
wants to get involved with anti-racism in the South Belfast area to
come along. You will be most welcome. We will discuss Homefinders
and the Anti-Racism/Pro-Diversity gig that the group are organising
for late January. If you know of any bands/artists that wish to take
part, get in touch.
We have finally managed to get our email system from the group up and
running. In the next few days many of you will receive this same
email direct from the SB group - apologies in advance for the
repetition. (It is not possible to tell which list people are signed
on to). If you do not wish to be notified of South Belfast activities
(we will not be offended) please send an email to our email address
with TAKE OFF in the Subject box.
Cheers
Mark Hewitt, Barbara Muldoon, Mick Scott
*
Dear Friend,
You are invited to attend the next meeting Cawp organising meeting.
It will be held in the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre in Donegall
Street on Thursday 9 December 2004. The meeting should begin at
7.30pm.
Yours sincerely,
Jonathan Morrison
(on behalf of the Campaign Against Water Privatization)
*
Press Release: 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
Date: 1/12/04. For Immediate Release. Contact - 07801 729412
32 County Sovereignty Movement Praises Brendan O'Connor's Release.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement is thankful to hear of the release
earlier today of Republican prisoner Brendan O'Connor from Pomeroy.
Brendan was arrested and detained by British occupation forces and
detained in Maghaberry Jail on an alleged charge of conspiring to
destroy Stewartstown Police station with an explosive device in July
2000.
Ever since his arrest the 32 County Sovereignty Movement along with
the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association had expressed our
concern over what we considered to be trumped up charges against him.
Again, as in the case of Martin Brogan, Mark Carroll and Seamus
Doherty (all of whom have likewise been released) the issue at the
heart of the matter is one of 'dodgy evidence' and the likelihood of
tampering and fabrication surrounding supposed DNA finds.
Ever since the Brogan and Carroll case, we along with other supporters
have asked the question "how many others?” We take no pleasure in
finding ourselves right once again and point instead to this as
further confirmation of the continuing corruption inherent within the
Six County State.
ERNI LYNCH
http://www.32csm.netfirms.com/
*******
WHAT'S ON
*
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
Picket 6pm and 8pm Friday 10th December 2004 in Whitehall, opposite
Downing Street
End Human Rights Violations in Colombia
No Military Support for Uribe Regime
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was approved by the
UN General Assembly in 1948. Yet 56 years later, and despite the
ratification by Colombia of all the International Covenants that
followed the UDHR, the Colombian people continue to suffer gross
violations of their civil and political rights, but also of economic,
social and cultural rights. In the context of war that the country
endures, the state's repressive policies and impunity for right-wing
paramilitary groups fuels further violations. President Uribe has
opted for war and blocked the path to peace.
All principal articles of the UDHR are violated. Here are some
examples:
Article 2: everyone is entitled to rights without distinctions --
indigenous peoples such as the U'wa, Wayuu, Kankuamo and the Embera
Katios are being discriminated against on the basis of their ethnicity
and their struggle for autonomy, culture and land.
Article 3: the right to life, liberty and security of person -- is not
being observed, as shown by the assassinations of trade unionists,
social leaders and even students by paramilitary groups, often with
the complicity of the state forces. These rights are further
threatened by the US military intervention programme Plan Colombia.
Article 7: All are equal before the law and entitled to its
protection, under Uribe, the state has blurred the distinction between
armed combatants and the civilian population. The victims of state
sponsored paramilitary violence are unprotected, yet the authors of
blood crimes and harassment of the population go free, especially when
members of the armed forces (army and police) are involved.
Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or
exile, detentions have increased to more than fifty thousand. We
highlight the cases of Luz Perly Córdoba, Human Rights Secretary of
the agricultural workers union FENSUAGRO detained on 18th February
2004, and Samuel Morales, President of the Arauca Regional Committee
of the CUT trade union federation and Raquel Castro a teacher were
arrested in an early morning army raid on 5th August 2004 in which
three of their fellow leaders were assassinated.
Article 13 the right to freedom of movement and Article 17 no one
shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property: peasants, African
descendants and indigenous communities are violently driven off their
lands to make way for multinationals like BP. There are 3 million
displaced people.
Article 19: the right to freedom of expression. Social leaders,
lawyers and trade unionists who oppose the government's neo-liberal
policies are treated as military targets. Documents reveal
Operation Dragon, in which military intelligence has targeted the
entire leadership of public sector union SINTRAEMCALI and listed 80
opposition politicians for close surveillance, the normal prelude to
elimination.
Article 23 the right to work and form a trade union: last year 681
trade unionists received death threats, and 47 were assassinated
between January and August 2004. The trade unionists killed while
protecting the interests of their fellow workers in Coca-Cola bottling
plants shows just how vulnerable is the realisation of this right.
Elections in Colombia are not free. Uribe is now trying to change the
constitution so that he can gain a second 4 year term, with full
backing from Bush and an international media offensive to clean his
image.
British government support for Uribe helps whitewash a regime
responsible for the worst violations in the western hemisphere.
Despite a motion signed by 237 MPs calling for an end to it, Tony
Blair still supplies military aid. Now is the time for decent people
to insist on a change in policy.
FINANCIAL APPEAL:
We ask you to make a special donation to support our human rights and
campaigning work. Donations payable to Colombia Solidarity Campaign?
and send to: Colombia Solidarity Campaign, PO Box 8446, London N17
6NZ.
Many thanks.
Colombia Solidarity Campaign
PO Box 8446
London N17 6NZ
Tel: 07743 743041
Email: colombia_sc@hotmail.com
http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/
*
10 December 2004
Women's Rights are Human Rights - summit conference
Women into Politics will mark International Human Rights Day with a
conference on Globalisation and the challenges for Women's
participation and leadership. This conference entitled Women's
Participation and Leadership in Global Processes is a summit following
a series of workshops on globalisation and its impact on women's lives
-- locally and globally. The day is dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, the
Burmese pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
The summit will address themes that increasingly define our world and
that pose enormous challenges to women, women's movements and
feminists worldwide. The conference takes place on 10 December 2004
in Grosvenor House, Glengall Street, Belfast, from 9.00am to 4.00pm
and will analyse the diverse forms of globalisation in local,
regional, and global arenas and its impact on communities and on every
woman’s right to participate at all levels of society and will
also explore ways of showing global solidarity.
There are limited places left so please contact Carola Speth on tel:
028 9024 3363 or email: dialogue@womenintopolitics.org to register.
*
INVITATION TO THE THIRD EDITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL DAYS OF STRUGGLE
AGAINST ISOLATION
This year we are going to organize the activities in relation with the
"International Days of Struggle against Isolation" with an
international symposium against isolation in Berlin.
THE PROGRAM FOR THE THIRD YEAR
15-18 December 2004, Berlin
15-17 December: Symposium
18 December: International Festival
Venue:
Alte Feuerwache
Axel-Springer-Str. 40/41
10969 Berlin
Public transport:
U6 Kochstrasse
U2 Spittelmarkt
PROGRAM
15 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-11.00
Opening
11.00-13.00
IRELAND
Speakers: IRSP, IRPWA, Marion Price (Veteran of the 1981 hunger
strike)
13.00-14.00
Lunch
14.00-17.00:
PALESTINE / IRAQ
Speakers: Addameer (Palestine), IKP (Cadre), Iraqi patriotic alliance,
Cihan Keskek (Turkey, human shield), Azmet Begg (England, father of a
Guantanamo captive)
17.00-18.30
Dinner
18.30-21.00
THE GREAT RESISTANCE AGAINST ISOLATION IN TURKEY AND HUMAN RIGHT
VIOLATIONS
Speakers: Ahmet Kulaksiz (father of Canan and Zehra who died both by
Death Fast), Niyazi Agirman (his son hanged himself in an F-type cell
and his daughter was killed some weeks ago by the army), Cezmi
Ersöz (writer), a Death Fast veteran, Feleknaz Uca (Deputy of the
European Parliament, PDS), Rüdiger Göbel (editor of the daily
newspaper Junge Welt), Paola Cecchi (Women International League for
Peace and Freedom)
16 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-12.30
BASQUE COUNTRY, SPAIN-FRANCE
Speakers: Behatokia (Basque Observatory of Human Rights), Askatasuna,
Ex-prisoner from Basque country, Endavant (Catalonia)
12.30-14.00
Lunch
14.00-16.30:
CUBAN 5, MUMIA ABU JAMAL
Speakers: Cuba Si, FG BRD-Cuba, representative of Cuban embassy,
Basta Ya, James Cockroft
16.30-18.30
Dinner
18.30-21.00
BLACK LIST, OPERATION OF 1st APRIL
Speakers: International Platform against Isolation, Naime Kara,
Nazmiye Kaya, Mehmet Göçebe, CAMPACC (England), Bernd Häusler
(Representative for human rights of the bar association in Berlin)
17 December 2004
09.00-10.00
Breakfast
10.00-13.30:
General plenum:
Speakers-representation: Greece (Greek Social Forum, Lawyer
Rollhäuser), Italy (Assamblea Nazionale Anticapitalista,
Associazione
Solidarieta Proletaria, Senza Censura) Germany (Spartakisten,
Internationale Solidarität), Palestine (Palestinian community-
Austria) Nepal (Nepalese People's Progressive Forum), Iran, Turkey
(Anatolian federation), Sweden, Denmark (Internationalt Forum,
Opror), Austria (International Solidarity forum) Peru, Chile
(Colectivo Europeo Contra la Impunidad), Marocco (Annahj
Addimocrati), Algeria (PADS) etc.
13.30-15.00
Lunch
15.00-17.00:
END DECLARATION AND ASSESSMENTS.
Information number und email-address:
isolation@post.com
0049-163-8003094
Or
0032-2-2300688
*******
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*
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