The Plough Vol 03 No 14

The Plough
Volume 3, Number 14
31 January 2006

E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial
2) Thoughts for the Day
3) Labour News
4) From the Newspapers
5) Letters
6) What's On

*******

EDITORIAL

Last week the President of Ireland (26 counties) Mary McAleese made a
speech on the 1916 rising. She said some interesting things.

"Clearly its fundamental idea was freedom or in the words of the
proclamation, 'the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of
Ireland'"

"The kind of Ireland the heroes of the Rising aspired to was based on
an inclusivity that famously would cherish 'all the children of the
nation equally oblivious of the differences which have divided a
minority from the majority in the past'."

"There is a tendency for powerful and pitiless elites to dismiss with
damning labels those who oppose them."

Attacking those who tried Irish nationalism as somehow narrow,
sectarian and introverted, she said when talking about the
participants of the Rising, "Others of them were active participants
in the international working class movements of their day. Whatever
you might think of those involvements they were universalist and
global rather than constricted and blinkered."

For this speech, Irish News columnist and Unionist Party member Roy
Garland accused Mary McAleese of "playing with fire." He then distorts
what she said implying that "nationalists are Catholics." What she
actually said was, "Those who think of Irish nationalism as narrow
miss for example the membership many of them had of a universal church
which brought them into contact with a vastly wider segment of the
world than open to even the most traveled imperial gentleman."

After this distortion, he then calls the uprising itself "terrorism",
ignoring the fact that the actual uprising was conducted according to
the then existing rules of war. After six days the rebels surrendered
to superior forces of the British who then committed what can now only
be called random acts of terrorism by executing the leaders of the
uprising. He then contemptuously refers to these same leaders,
"Thankfully their lust for blood is at the moment only a whisper."
He then attributes to those same men and women of 1916, "the utter
decimation of the southern unionist community, the cowering of many 26
county Protestants, partition and fratricidal strife in the North."

Does Roy not think that maybe partition was the attempt by the
majority in the North to hold on to the priviliges that being part of
the Protestant Ascendancy in Irleand had given them? The subsequent
history of the six county state with its record of discrimination,
gerrymandering and sectarian pogroms can not be attributed to the 1916
heroes, but rather to the political elites who ruled the North and
whose political voice was the Unionist Party of which Roy is no doubt
a proud member of.

The reality is that many of the Protestant Ascendancy and those who
served that Ascendancy having lost their privilged position moved to
those areas where they could still feel as if the sun would never set
on the British Empire. The subsequent faiures of the new Free State
can not be attributed to either republicanism or the 1916 uprising
but to the narrow sectarian thinkers of a new elite who aped the
manners and styles of the departing British.

He also repeats the lie that 1916 was all about blood sacrifice. Why,
if that was the case, did they surrender?

Not to be outdone, that sad and pathetic columnist and apologist for
imperialism, of the Irish Times, Kevin Myers, called the President's
address "triumphalist" and "imbecilic" and sheds crocodile tears over
the deaths inflicted by the insurgents during the uprising itself,
especially on those wearing British Army uniforms. He really does have
a thing about military uniforms does our Kevin.

If he had taken the trouble to read the actual speech the answers to a
series of questions Myers asked is contained in the following, when
describing the world of 1916, "It's a fighting world where war is
glorified and death in uniform is seen as the ultimate act of
nobility, at least for one’s own side."

No doubt, a major debate will fill the columns of the newspapers for
the next 3 or 4 months as people re-interpret the Rising to fit their
own worldview. The view of republican socialists is clear. It was
justified, it was anti-imperialist and there was no better time to
strike for national liberation than during a major intra-imperialist war.

Those young men from all parts of the British Isles who thought they
were fighting for the freedom of small nations and sacrificed their
lives in the slaughtering fields of France and Belgium were duped.
They were in fact fighting for British imperialism, which gave the
world the first concentration camps during the Boer War. Those brave
men and women who took over the buildings in Dublin fought a nobler
and more worthwhile fight than those who went to Flanders for they
began a series and anti-imperialist struggles around the world against
the British Empire. We know which side we are on, the side that all
who call themselves socialists world wide should be on, the side of
the anti-imperialist fighters. You cannot build socialism within an
imperialist system. Smash imperialism; build socialism following the
example of James Connolly.

*******

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Oops!!! Did I say that??

"Republicans are prepared to work an executive. We are really prepared
to administer British rule in Ireland for the foreseeable future. The
very principle of partition is accepted, and if the Unionists had had
that in the 1920s they would have been laughing." -- Francie Molloy,
March 28 1999 (London Times)

"The (British) government has to ensure that no one thinks there is
any alternative to the Good Friday Agreement or the changes it
contains." -- Gerry Adams

"The challenge...must be working towards the type of a united Ireland
that best suits unionists." -- Gerry Adams, June 28 2004 (Belfast
Telegraph)

"There needs to be nationalist and republican confidence in unionism."
-- Gerry Adams, September 28 2003 (Sunday Business Post)

"We want to do business with Ian Paisley. We would be quite pleased to
vote for Ian Paisley as First Minister." -- Gerry Adams, September 17
2004 (Irish Independent)

"The British government needs to bring its system in Ireland under
control." -- Martin McGuinness, August 24 2004 (IAIS News)

"Mrs Windsor can come and go as she wants." -- Gerry Adams on a visit
by the Queen to Northern Ireland

"It's an open secret. I have said within republican circles that one
of the objectives of this process is to see an IRA out of existence.
When I say that we want to bring an end to physical force
republicanism, that clearly means bringing an end to the organisation
or the vehicle of physical force republicanism." -- Gerry Adams,
September 28 2003 (Sunday Business Post)

"These incidents are absolutely deplorable. They are despicable. They
are unjustifiable and they are coming from a gang of people who are
militarily useless and politically a shambles." -- Martin McGuiness,
referring to republican resistance activities against British
occupation, September 20 2003 (Irish Independent)

"Hugging trees has a calming effect on me. I'm talking about enormous
trees...I've hugged trees in the White House and in the garden of 10
Downing Street -- and I've hugged trees in every part of this little
island." -- Gerry Adams, July 4 2001 (Belfast Telegraph)

"I almost hugged David Trimble." -- Gerry Adams, August 8 2002
(Belfast Telegraph)

How Things Change

"There can be no such things as an Irish nationalist accepting the
loyalist veto and partition. You cannot claim to be an Irish
nationalist if you consent to an internal six county settlement and if
you are willing to negotiate the state of Irish society with a foreign
government." -- Gerry Adams, November 22 1984 (AP/RN)

"No Irish nationalist could support any treaty which institutionalizes
British government claims to a part of Irish national territory.
Indeed, the term -- 'constitutional nationalism' -- used by Mr. Mallon
(SDLP) and his colleagues to describe their political philosophy is a
contradiction in terms. The only constitutional nationalist in Ireland
today is Sean McBride. He puts his nationalism within a framework of
Irish constitutionality. Mr. Mallon, however, puts his within the
framework of British constitutionality. Irish nationalism within
British constitutionality is a contradiction in terms." -- Gerry
Adams, 1986 ("The Politics of Irish Freedom", Gerry Adams, Brandon
Book Publishers, Ltd., Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland 1986, page 112,
lines 26-35. Note: Removed from 1995 and 1996 editions).

"British rule depends upon repression and collaboration and the Irish
people should recognise that those who collaborate with Britain in
exchange for a slice of the cake will implement British policy and
remain silent when Irish people are murdered and oppressed. It is they
who are responsible for prolonging the war in Ireland. Without the
quislings, without the collaborators, we would already have reached
freedom." -- Martin McGuinness, Bodenstown, June 26 1986 (AP/RN)

"Armed struggle is a necessary and morally correct form of resistance
in the six counties against a government whose presence is rejected by
the vast majority of the Irish people." -- Gerry Adams, 1986 (Sinn
Fein Ard-Fheis, AP/RN)

"There is those who tells us that the British Government will not be
removed by armed struggle. As has been said before, the history of
Ireland and of British colonial involvement throughout the world tells
us that they will not be moved by anything else." -- Gerry Adams, 1986
(Sinn Fein Ard-Fheis, AP/RN)

[From: http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/HISTORY/oops.htm]

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can
change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." --
Margaret Mead

"We have the responsibility to make no deal with the oppressor." --
Harry Belafonte

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught
in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of
destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." --
Martin Luther King Jr.

*******

LABOUR NEWS

*

Chicken factory to lay off 400 workers in Derry

A chicken processing plant in Derry has announced plans to close with
the loss of 400 jobs.

Management at the Farm Fed factory in Coleraine informed employees t
that the company had been forced into the move due to rising costs
coupled with the importation of low-priced poultry from abroad.

Farm Fed, which supplies large clients like Sainsbury's, Iceland and
Kentucky Fried Chicken, processes 15 million chickens every year from
around 60 farms in Co Derry.

*

IRELAND: SACKED STEWARD'S CASE RAISED IN THREE PARLIAMENTS

Here's a report direct from Mandate, the union whose shop steward
Joanne Delaney, was sacked in November by Dunnes Stores for wearing a
union pin:

"Joanne's case has now been raised in no less than three Parliaments
(House of Commons, Scottish Parliament and the Dail). Independent T.D.
(MP) Finian McGrath spoke out last night and has put down a Dail
question to the appropriate Minister. Equally important, community
activists from Crumlin in Dublin (the local area to that branch of
Dunnes) are making arrangements to put a permanent stall outside
Dunnes to distribute 'I support Joanne Delaney stickers' to the
public. A number of trade unions have been in touch to offer support
and 'Labour Youth' in Ireland are arranging to demonstrate outside a
number of Dunnes branches in support of Joanne. Things are beginning
to take off, mainly as a result of the LabourStart initiative."

If you have not yet done so -- and 32,000 of you reading this message
are STILL in this category -- please don't hesitate. Send off your
message today:

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=66

*

For trade union activists

Dear Brothers and Sisters

Please find attached draft resolutions that you may wish to consider
for your trade union. UNISON and NIPSA members should note that their
unions have already supported the Coke boycott so may wish to adjust
the wording to reflect this.

Yours in solidarity,
Matthew Stiles

Trade Union Liaison Officer Colombia Solidarity Campaign

Boycott Coca Cola Campaign

1. This union notes the call by the Colombian trade union movement for
a boycott of Coca Cola and their products, initiated by Sinaltrainal,
the Colombian Food and Drink Workers Union and endorsed by the CUT,
the Colombia Trades Union Congress, and supported by the World Social
Forum.

2. This union notes with concern that 8 Sinaltrainal union leaders
working for Coca Cola bottling plants in Colombia have been murdered
by paramilitary death squads since 1990; and that Alcira Herrera the
widow of one of those murdered, Jesus Segundo Gil, with in several
cases clear evidence of complicity from managers. Sinaltrainal members
have also faced death threats, arrests, torture, kidnapping and the
raiding of union offices and the homes of members to force members to
renounce their right to association, resulting in a 50% reduction in
union membership. Paramilitary death squads, acting, as confirmed by
human rights groups, in complicity with the armed forces and other
government-linked security forces, favour multinationals and their
affiliates. Their continuous illegal pressure on union leaders has
forced hundreds of workers to resign from the union and to reject work
contracts and union agreements. The Coca-Cola company now subcontracts
86% of its workers paying them low wages and allowing them no union
benefits. This labour policy based on terror grants Coca-Cola enormous
profit increases

3. This union also notes the ongoing court case, filed in Miami by the
US Steel Workers Union and the International Labor Rights Fund on
behalf of Sinaltrainal under the Alien Tort Act, in which the Coca
Cola bottlers are accused of contracting with or otherwise directing
"paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and
murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade
union leaders"; and that these assassinations included that of Isidro
Segundo Gil, shot dead by paramilitaries at the gates of the Coca Cola
bottling plant in Carapa in 1996, while in the process of negotiating
better terms and conditions for Coca Cola workers.

This union thereby resolves to:

1. We believe that Coca-Cola should be made accountable for the social
harms it is responsible for, and that the human rights violations of
its workers in Colombia are so serious that we support a boycott of
all Coke products until the corporation agrees to negotiate with
SINALTRAINAL and other Coke unions, in front of international
witnesses, measures for compensation, memory, justice and to protect
the lives of the workers.

2. Send this motion to the trade group/regional committee and the
national executive committee and to the trade union national
conference, urgently calling for support for the campaign.

3. Send messages of support to Sinaltrainal.

4. Affiliate to the Colombia Solidarity Campaign and campaign against
the continuing paramilitary and state sponsored terrorism against
Colombia trade unionists.

*

Statement of the Trade Union of the Vahed Bus Company of Tehran and
Suburbs on the strike on 28 January 2006

On behalf of the 17,000 workers of the Vahed Bus Company of Tehran we
inform the workers' organisations of the world and all those who have
been moved by the suppression of the most basic human rights, that
today, 28 January, our widespread strike was confronted by the
unprecedented attack of the agents of the Islamic Republic.

On the previous night they attacked our homes, even took our young
children to prison, and a large number that is certainly over
hundreds, were arrested (we still do not have the precise number). A
number of our co-workers were forced to drive buses after being beaten
and threatened. A number of drivers who had been hired by the military
organisations, as well as thousands of police and security agents,
both plain clothes [officers] and uniformed, were unleashed on us so
that they can smash our strike. This is our [current] situation.

What was the strike about? For the release of Mr Ossanlou and the
other leaders of the union, who were also without any reason and
through bullying thrown into jail; signing a collective contract;
union recognition; for a pay rise and the like. Can you believe that
for these demands such a merciless and massive war was started? The
Islamic Republic has done this and we have no choice other than to
continue our struggle in a more determined and united way.

We ask you, our co-workers and co-destined throughout the world, who
can have your own unions and organisations, we request that you
condemn this act of the Iranian government. We expect that you demand
the immediate and unconditional release all those who have been
arrested. Demand that our union is recognised and our demands met. We
expect that you will condemn the smashing of our strike and that you
will demand that all those who attacked the striking workers are tried
and sentenced. We also thank all the unions and organisation that have
supported our struggles. We have a long and hard struggle ahead of us
and urge you to continue your support.

Respectfully

Trade Union of the Vahed Bus Company of Tehran and Suburbs
28 January 2006

*******

FROM THE NEWSPAPERS

*

HUNGER STRIKE

The Palestinian Maan News Agency reported on Tuesday that the
Prisoners Media Center announced that 2200 Palestinian detainees in
the Israeli Negev Detention camp began a hunger strike on Tuesday.
The detainees decided to go on hunger strike in protest to the
mistreatment and collective punishment they face in detention.

The Media Center reported that the detainees in ten sections at the
facility are barred from their visitation rights.

The administration decided to bar hem from their visitation rights
after they held a celebration for Fateh movement marking the 41st
anniversary of its founding.

[Source: http://www.imemc.org/content/view/16254/1/]

*

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/39a91018-8c69-11da-9efb-0000779e2340,s01=1.html

Morales names radical activists to Bolivian cabinet
By Hal Weitzman in La Paz

Published: January 23 2006 23:53 | Last updated: January 24 2006 00:01

Evo Morales began work as president of Bolivia on Monday by signing a
series of accords with Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan leader, and
appointing a cabinet of radical activists.

At a ceremony in the presidential palace, Mr Morales, wearing his
trademark striped sweater, and Mr Chávez hailed the co-operation
agreements on hydrocarbons, agriculture, education, health and mutual
political support as central to strengthening ties between the Andean
countries.

Mr Morales highlighted the Venezuelan pledge to donate 200,000 barrels
of diesel to Bolivia to ease its petrol shortage and its commitment to
help South America's poorest country.

Mr Chávez said he was prepared to share his experiences, "the mistakes
we have made as well as our successes". He hailed the alliance between
the two countries as one opposed to neo-liberalism and capitalism and
offered technical expertise from PDVSA, the Venezuelan state energy
company, to help nationalise Bolivia's gas sector.

At the end of the ceremony, the Bolivian president proudly presented
his guest with a large portrait of Simon Bolívar, the 19th-century
liberator of South America, made entirely of coca leaves. Mr Morales,
a former coca growers leader, has caused consternation in Washington
by vowing to decriminalise the cultivation of the crop, a traditional
stimulant that is also the raw material for cocaine.

Earlier, the new president named a cabinet of leftwing professionals
and leaders from the protest movements he will need to work closely
with to secure social peace.

Foreign investors in the gas sector will be nervous about the
appointment of Andres Soliz Rada, a lawyer, columnist and former
politician, as hydrocarbons minister. Mr Soliz Rada has been a fierce
critic of international investors.

The top economic position is to be filled by Carlos Villegas, a
leftwing academic who was Mr Morales's senior economic adviser.

*******

LETTERS

*

Comrades,

In response to Comrade L's letter to The Plough Vol. 3 No.13 entitled
'Bowing to spontaneity'. Whilst I do not like replying to edited (who
modified it and why?) documents on this occasion I believe the issues
raised merit a reply.

As a contribution to dialogue and to encourage debate, this is a poor
effort from Comrade L. It manages to combine naivety and a complete
ignorance of the objective of revolutionary community activity.

Hard working revolutionary comrades involved in local community
activity are not social workers, to state that is an insult. Most
revolutionary community activists have been engaged in revolutionary
tactics most of their adult lives and what we do in the community is
an extension to and part of that revolution. Comrade L's view of
revolutionary community activity as a service based activity is an
interesting concept and one that its adherents/funders are trying to
implement through the misdirection of funding.

The effect of the misdirection of resources has been to suck up what
was the leadership of local working class communities to a level where
it has lost touch with its grassroots. There is a service element to
community work; that is the service that salaried workers and
disempowered community groups provide to funders. That service
includes the wasted hours workers spend doing unnecessary
administration for funders and the hours and hours spent in pointless
meetings that never reach a conclusion. This service is malign, a
distraction and is a diversionary service. Its purpose is to
deconstruct long term community infrastructure that empowered local
communities through self help and collective campaigning activity and
replace it with a service dependent, based community infrastructure.

The community sector and the majority of those who are employed within
it are presently engaged in this diversionary activity whether they
realise or not. However, it is an alien concept to those who engage in
revolutionary community activity and most working class communities. I
believe that those republican socialist comrades involved in
revolutionary community activity do so, on the basis that there is no
independent, coherent community infrastructure in working class
communities and hence no accountable leadership.

Despite assertions from the 'community sector' that working class
communities are organised and they are the leadership, the story on
the ground tells a different story. In grassroots working class
communities good sound community infrastructure based on need, self
help and collective campaigning has been deconstructed and replaced
with service based community activity that promotes division and thus
disempowerment, it allows the community sector to act as gatekeepers
and pacify the working class.

At present revolutionary community activity is not only the barrier to
those who wish to pacify the working class, it is also the social glue
that promotes working class unity. It also offers in my view the best
access, influence and opportunity to radicalise a working class that
is disjointed, divided, distracted and therefore aimless.

Comrade L's contribution is littered with rhetoric such as political
LEADERSHIP, TRIBUNES OF THE PEOPLE and what are PROFESSIONAL
REVOLUTIONARIES ??????????????? (His emphasis, my question marks).

His fixation with the IRSP being the leadership of the Irish working
class ignores the fact that the Irish working class is not a cohesive
unit that recognises the IRSP as being its vanguard.

I apologise to comrades in advance for the transport analogy.

But, waiting for the working class to rise in revolution and then
expect to be its POLITICAL LEADERSHIP OR TRIBUNES OF THE PEOPLE
without having first engaged, worked and radicalised the grassroots is
a bit like waiting for a bus, nothing comes along for ages then three
come at once.

In the case of revolutions and with our present lack of political
clarity we probably wouldn't be able to make our minds which one to
lead or which direction to go.

Much better for there to be one bus, on time, full and the IRSP to be
in the driver's seat. That is the opportunity, method and application
offered by revolutionary community activity.

On issues of political leadership, the best leaders/leaderships lead
by example that is the way of Connolly, Costello, and Power. Indeed
comrades, that is the way of the IRPS, when have we ever sat back and
waited for others in our class to engage in struggle?

Comrade Paul Little

*

Dear Editor,

I get a copy ofTthe Plough in my mail and was reading the latest
edition (Vol 3 No 13) and I read an article by Niall Murray entitled
SIPTU gains 15,000 non-national members over 18 months.

I think that people on the left and progressive journalists in general
should avoid the term 'non national' as it has been pointed out
everyone is a national of somewhere. Foreign nationals or people from
New Communities are ok terms used to describe foreign workers.

Keep up the good work

John O'Neill

[Point taken comrade! We stand corrected!! -- Editor]

*

A chairde

The US Tour of the Black Watch and Welsh Guards is underway with
appearances that have already taken place in New York, New Jersey and
PA earlier this month.

These murderous regiments, responsible for the deaths of over a dozen
innocent civilians in Ireland, will appear in BOSTON this SUNDAY
JANUARY 29th -- and will appear at WORCESTER MA on MONDAY JANUARY 30th
-- the 34TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BLOODY SUNDAY massacre in Derry.

The Irish Freedom Committee will be issuing a Press Release shortly
regarding our Boston Cumann participation in protesting these wholly
offensive appearances. If you are able to assist in any way please
contact us at Boston@irishfreedomcommittee.net. These protests will
take approximately 2 hours each day. Please don't allow these
murderous regiments to invade your town under the guise of a "cultural
event". The record of blood on the hands of the Black Watch is well
documented and must be exposed and opposed.

Watch our website for updates and announcements regarding other Black
Watch/Welsh Guards tour dates in the US - for more information please
contact us at info@irishfreedomcommittee.net.

Beir bua!

The Irish Freedom Committee
http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/

*

FRONTLINE LATIN AMERICA No 2 A NEW QUARTERLY NEWSPAPER

In this issue:

Students and Coke: 'Constructive Engagement' The Big Debate
Reports on international resistance to Coca-Cola and Nestlé
Higher Education special
Indigenous resistance: A continent wakes up to its murderous history
BP on trial: Colombian campesinos take BP to court
Developments in Latin America: Bush in Argentina, FTAA dead in the
water, San José update,
Popular Women’s Organisation interview
Y MUCHO MÁS!

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! UK subscription rates: £5 per annum

JOIN THE COLOMBIA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN!
Member subscription includes membership to the Colombia Solidarity
Campaign
Individuals: waged £15.00, unwaged £7.50, organisations £30/60/120.

Mark category of required subscription and return with payment made
out to 'Colombia Solidarity Campaign', to Colombia Solidarity
Campaign, PO Box 8446, London N17 6PJ

*******

WHAT'S ON

*

Thursday, 9 February

FALLUJAH DOCUMENTARY SHOWING GALWAY

FALLUJAH & WHITE PHOSPHOROUS DOCUMENTARY and ED HORGAN speaks.
Hosted by Galway Alliance Against War
NUI Galway @ 6.15pm, ((venue to be confirmed ))

SMALL ROOM, TOWN HALL THEATRE, GALWAY @ 8.30pm

more info on any of above: Jamie Murphy revolt682000@yahoo.co.uk

*

Wednesday, 8 March

International Women's Day Wednesday 8th March 2006

Day and Evening events

Marking the 70th Anniversary of the Spanish Anti-Fascist War 1936-1939

The Clarion Call; Women & the Spanish Civil War: A talk and
photo/poster presentation will be given by Angela Jackson, in the
Central Hall, Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education on
Wednesday the 8th March 12.30pm to 15.30pm. (Refreshments at
12.30pm:)Edwina Stewart will introduce Angela Jackson and question
time/debate will be chaired by Myrtle Hill.

The BIFHE are hosting this event in the College Square East, as part
of their Centenary celebrations. On show for the first time will be a
photographic exhibition "A HUNDRED YEARS OF WOMEN AT THE TECH"
contrasting women who attended the college in the early part of the
20th century with women who attend the college in the present day.
(Leaflet will be available shortly).

Angela Jackson, a doctor of History from the University of Essex, now
lives in the Priorat, Catalonia. She moved there in 2002 after
visiting the area to research for her book, British Women and the
Spanish Civil War. (Routledge, London, 2002) Her interest in the
history of the cave hospital near the village of La Bisbal de Falset
led to the publication of a further book in Catalan and English,
Beyond the Battlefield (Warren & Pell, Pontypool, 2005). She continues
to be involved in the subject of memory and remembrance of the war
though her work as president of the association ‘No Jubilem La
Memòria’. The work of the group so far has included the production of
a documentary based on interviews with International Brigaders and
local people, the organisation of commemorative events and lectures,
and the collection and exhibition of photographs taken in the area
during the civil war.

Edwina Stewart was a teacher in Ashfield Girls School and Comber High
School. Following in her parents footsteps (they were founder members
of the Communist Party of Ireland) Edwina continues her membership of
the CPI, and it is in this capacity that she knew some of those
families whose relatives went to fight in Spain against fascism. Her
mother Sadie Menzies was involved in the International Women’s Day
events in the late 1940’s. Edwina was also honorary secretary of the
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association from 1969 until the late
‘70’s. And as she says "I joined practically every peace and
solidarity organisation and I’m not finished yet." (Cited by Marilyn
Hyndman in Further Afield: Journeys from a Protestant past 1996) In
1962 as a serving teacher, Edwina was a student in Commercial Studies
at the ‘Tech’ in Belfast.

Myrtle Hill, who returned to study as a housewife and mother, is
currently Director of the Centre for Women’s Studies at Queen’s
University, Belfast. A senior lecturer in social, religious and
women’s history, she has published widely in these areas; her most
recent book is Women in Ireland: A Century of Change, Belfast, 2003.
She continues to work on various aspects of Irish, particularly
northern Irish women’s history, focusing more recently on the
complexities of how events are recorded and remembered. As coordinator
of the University’s Access Programme, she maintains a strong interest
in the promotion of opportunities for mature students.

Social Event: 8th March: In the evening there will be an IWD event
held in the John Hewitt pub in Donegall Street 7.15pm to late. "Into
the Fire" a film about American Women’s involvement in the Spanish
Civil War will be shown, followed by musicians/singers/poets,
Geraldine Bradley, Paul Bradley; Chad Dughie, Victoria Gleason &
others plus a poem sent by Sinead Morrissey. All proceeds from this
event will go the International Brigades Commemoration Committee who
intends to establish a memorial to those Belfast people who died
fighting with the International Brigade in Spain. (£6 waged & £2.00
unwaged)

Relatives of the International Brigade, who went to Spain from Ireland
will invited to the events which are supported by the International
Brigades Commemoration Committee; BIFHE; Belfast & District Trade
Union Council; and partly funded by the Northern Ireland Women’s
Rights Movement. These events should appeal women’s organisations,
students, historians, trade unionists, academics, & political activists.

All People Welcome

*

REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST YOUTH MOVEMENT RAFFLE

The RSYM is selling tickets for a raffle will be April 17th, 11am at
Costello House. The prizes are a POW-made bodhrán (traditional Irish
drum), DVDs and assorted IRSM merchandise valued around 15 euro. The
price of each ticket is 2 euro, 1 pound or 3 dollars.

The funds raised from raffle ticket sales will help RSY to acquire a
banner, badges, pay for their website and so on. It's important work
in establishing the IRSM's youth wing and all sales are greatly
appreciated!

*******

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*

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The Plough Vol 03 No 13

The Plough
Volume 3, Number 13
24 January 2006








E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial: Collusion
2) Thoughts for the Day
3) Labour News in Ireland
4) From the Newspapers
5) Letters
6) What's On

*******

EDITORIAL: COLLUSION

The British Secretary of State Peter Hain has said that the Finucane
family can forget about an inquiry into the solicitor's murder if they
will not accept the one proposed by the government.

The terms of the inquiry into collusion between the security forces
and Mr. Finucane's UDA killers has been a source of dispute between
the Finucane family and the British government.

Mr. Hain has told The Universe, a Catholic newspaper, that the inquiry
will be held under the controversial Inquiries Act or there will be
"none at all".

Under the Inquiries Act, ministers rather than chairmen of an inquiry
have the power to keep information secret thus destroying the
independence of the tribunal investigating the case.

The British government had rushed the Act through Parliament last
year. However, under it the ministers in charge of those behind the
murder will be in charge of Pat's inquiry.

The Finucane family has received widespread international support for
their campaign for an independent public judicial inquiry.

Retired Canadian Supreme Court Justice Peter Cory, who recommended the
inquiry into the 1989 Finucane murder, has indicated that the
conditions imposed by the Act are unacceptable and now more than eight
months after passing the Act, the British government has been unable
to find a judge who will agree to chair the Finucane inquiry.

There is now little or no chance of the truth of British government
direct involvement in the murders of Irish citizens now coming into
the cold light of day.

*******

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Ø Beware those who wrap themselves in flags stolen off the coffins of
dead soldiers.

Ø From 1945 to 2005, the United States attempted to overthrow 50
governments, many of them democracies, and to crush 30 popular
movements fighting tyrannical regimes. In the process, 25 countries
were bombed, causing the loss of several million lives and the despair
of millions more. (Thanks to William Blum's Rogue State, Common
Courage Press, 2005).

Ø During the 18 months to 14 January, 1999, US aircraft flew 24,000
combat missions over Iraq; almost every mission was bombing or strafing.

Ø On 7 December, Maya Evans, a vegan chef aged 25, was convicted of
breaching the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act by reading
aloud at the Cenotaph the names of 97 British soldiers killed in Iraq.
So serious was her crime that it required 14 policemen in two vans to
arrest her. She was fined and given a criminal record for the rest of
her life.

Ø Eighty-year-old John Catt served with the RAF in the Second World
War. Last September, he was stopped by police in Brighton for wearing
an "offensive" T-shirt, which suggested that Bush and Blair be tried
for war crimes. He was arrested under the Terrorism Act and
handcuffed, with his arms held behind his back. The official record of
the arrest says the "purpose" of searching him was "terrorism" and the
"grounds for intervention" were "carrying placard and T-shirt with
anti-Blair info" (sic)(Source for above: The Quiet Death Of Freedom,
By John Pilger, first published in the New Statesman
http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/)

Ø "I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth, and I am
citizen of the world." -- Eugene V. Debs

*******

LABOUR NEWS IN IRELAND

From Labour Start
http://www.labourstart.org/

MANDATE MEMBER SACKED BY DUNNES STORES FOR WEARING UNION BADGE

An employee of Dunnes Stores in the Ashleaf centre in Crumlin in
Dublin has been sacked by the supermarket chain for wearing her union
badge in the workplace. Joanne Delaney, a Shop Steward at the store
recently received an indefinite suspension from work for wearing a
badge identifying her as a member of Mandate, the Union which
represents over 40,000 workers in the retail sector and bar trade,
including staff at Dunnes. Joanne received a letter on 29th November
2005 informing her that she had been dismissed by the company.
Dunnes Stores has accused her of not complying with company policy in
relation to the wearing of her union badge on her uniform. The Mandate
member had been suspended by a manager at the store since 18th October
for refusing to remove the Mandate Trade Union badge from her uniform.
The suspended member was advised to attend a disciplinary meeting at
6.00p.m. on Friday, 21st October. However, the meeting was cancelled
due to the fact that she was accompanied by her Union Representative.
The Company has continually denied her the right to be represented by
a Trade Union Official at meetings with management.

Responding to the dismissal, Mandy Kane, Divisional Organiser of
Mandate said "This sacking is petty, vindictive and does the image of
Dunnes Stores no favours whatsoever. Relations with Dunnes have been
declining all the time. However, this particular case would seem to
indicate that the company has reached an unprecedented low point in
its dealings with its staff on the shop floor. Despite the efforts of
Mandate to seek a resolution to this issue over many weeks, the
company has continued to frustrate our genuine attempts to represent
our member through established procedures. Joanne has been told by
company management that her employment has been terminated because of
her refusal to comply with what they say is company policy. Mandate is
at a loss as to which part of company policy prohibits the wearing of
a badge on a staff uniform."

Brendan Archbold, National Official with Mandate explained that there
are well established mechanisms available to Dunnes Stores and
operated by the union which had been repeatedly by-passed by the
company during this whole process. "The decision by Dunnes to sack a
member of Mandate for wearing her union badge is symptomatic of a
wider campaign by the chain to undermine this union and to
systematically erode our right to represent our members effectively.
For a considerable period of time now, it has been clear to Mandate
that the company has wilfully and methodically sought to obstruct our
efforts to engage with them on a variety of issues. This is just one
example of the company’s deplorable attitude to Trade Unions. Issues
such as this have contributed to the souring of the industrial
relations environment in Dunnes Stores. The company continues to
ignore the principles of natural justice and the Labour Relations
Commission code of practice on disciplinary procedures as they work to
isolate and emasculate the union. Unless this matter is dealt with
satisfactorily from the union’s point of view, it has the potential to
escalate given the worsening atmosphere at the company" he concluded.

Galway hospital workers protest over outsourcing of jobs
24/01/2006 - 11:47:03

Workers at University College Hospital in Galway are planning a
lunchtime demonstration today to protest against the outsourcing of
jobs at the facility.

The IMPACT trade union claims around 100 clerical and administrative
jobs at the hospital have been outsourced to agency workers in breach
of negotiated agreements.

Today's hour-long protest is part on an ongoing series of
demonstrations arranged by IMPACT to protest against the hiring of
agency staff to conduct tasks normally carried out by health service
employees.

The union believes hospitals are engaged in such moves to get around
the Government's embargo on the recruitment of more public service staff.

24/01/06

SIPTU gains 15,000 non-national members over 18 months
By Niall Murray

THE country’s largest union has gained 15,000 members from the growing
number of foreign nationals working here in the last 18 months.

SIPTU general secretary Joe O’Flynn said the issue of exploitation of
foreign workers and evidence of falling pay rates in certain sectors
must be addressed in the upcoming talks on a new social partnership
agreement.

The union will hold a special conference next Tuesday at which the
national executive will recommend to delegates that it should enter
these negotiations. The Government invited the Irish Congress of Trade
Unions (ICTU) to talks a fortnight ago, but the support of SIPTU with
its 200,000-plus members would be vital for the strength of the wider
union movement.

Mr O’Flynn said that a large number of SIPTU’s non-national recruits
have come from the construction and services sectors to secure
representation and employment rights.

He was commenting after a TNS/MRBI poll found that almost four-in-
five adults believe that people coming here from the 10 EU accession
countries should need work permits.

The same survey, in yesterday’s Irish Times, found that 70% believe
that no more non-national workers should be allowed come here or that
their numbers should be reduced.

"These figures show more of a concern... that migrant labour should
not be abused to drive down pay and conditions," Mr O’Flynn said.

But he said the question of work permits for migrant workers, as
recently raised by Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte, would only arise
if the national pay talks failed to achieve the protections for this
group being sought by the union.

"I think he was saying that, if the Government is not prepared to act
in an open economy such as ours in terms of strict labour law
enforcement, then you would have to look at a permit scheme to protect
both migrant labour and Irish workers," Mr O’Flynn said.

*******

FROM THE NEWSPAPERS

*

Ethiopia: IMF favourite launches brutal crackdown

On October 7th 2004 Tony Blair praised his handpicked Commissioner for
Africa, Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister for "the greater
freedom and democracy there is here today." There was a good reason
for such praise. Zenawi’s government had implemented almost every
recommendation the World Bank and IMF put forward for the country. And
Zenawi was so keen to support Bush and Blair in their war on Iraq that
he offered the use of Ethiopian air bases.

However, since June 2005 when Ethiopian soldiers opened fire on
demonstrators protesting the fraudulent May election results, the
country has been gripped by civil unrest. The last two months have
seen an intensification of the struggle with up to 40,000 arrested, a
ten-day general strike in Addis Ababa, daily protests being met with
beatings and deaths and continuing student strikes around the country.

The June protests in which at least 26 demonstrators were shot dead
were over the ruling party’s declaration that it had won the May
elections, despite the opposition winning a landslide victory in the
capital. Ephraim, a student activist explains:

"Most people hate Meles and his government, because of the continuing
crisis in the countryside where people every day are being driven off
the land because they simply can’t survive. Because of the lack of
political freedom, because of unemployment in the cities, because of
corruption – having to pay bribes to government officials to get
anything done, because of so many things. The vote for the Coalition
for Unity and Democracy are a protest against the government …
everyone knows the system is corrupt and have done for years. But we
were too afraid. Now finally, enough is enough and people are
beginning to fight back."

The official election results were delayed, despite the ruling party
claiming victory, until November 1, when mass protests erupted on the
streets of Addis Ababa. A ten-day general strike was declared.

"We were determined to support the strike and set up roadblocks with
huge stones and boulders, anything we could get our hands on,"
explains Addisalem, a voluntary worker in the capital. "It was very
frightening but also exciting as we closed down the whole city and for
a while all the soldiers could do was look on. We felt like the
Palestinians. This was our Intifada."

Unrest rapidly spread to other Ethiopian towns – Awassa, Jimma,
Dessie, Debre Birhan – and a national student strike was declared.
Thousands of people were rounded up and taken off to camps.

Tefara, a minibus driver who took part in the strike said,

"When the strike was over, I reluctantly went back to work. I didn’t
want to, but if I didn’t work, we couldn’t eat. I saw police rounding
up anyone in their twenties they could find. I was very scared. They
dragged me off the bus and sent me down to Zeway [a town south of
Addis]. I was put into the football stadium with thousands of others.
It was very hot, with no shelter from the sun. They kept me there for
a month. We had nothing to eat except stale injera [a type of flat
bread/ pancake] and shiro [bean paste]. I saw lots of people die from
beatings or just exhaustion."

There are still protests almost every day. A British doctor, visiting
Addis last month describes the situation

"I saw a lot of primary school students shouting, “Release our
leaders! Release our leaders!” All of a sudden I heard gunshots and
saw soldiers firing indiscriminately. Everyone just started running. I
was running too, I was scared for my life. The city’s still gripped by
these protests."

Ethiopia continues to be wracked by poverty. 85% of the population
live in rural areas as small farmers or agricultural labourers. GNP
per capita is around US $110 a year, less than 30 cents a day. Much of
the farming is near subsistence with a small surplus sold in the
market. Prices for coffee, Ethiopia’s main export earner, have crashed
in recent years as the multinational cartels have forced prices down.
The result is that many coffee farmers are ripping up their crops and
some are joining the mass migrations from countryside to town to swell
the ranks of the urban poor, who have little means of making a living
beyond begging or prostitution.

Life expectancy is 48 and falling. HIV infection is around 7% and
health care statistics are grim with no access for retroviral drugs
(except for the very rich). There are only 20,000 doctors (one per
3,500 people). In fact there are more Ethiopian doctors in Washington,
USA, than the whole of Ethiopia. School enrolment rates are amongst
the lowest in the world with fewer than 40% in primary school and less
than 10% in secondary school.

One of the main questions in Ethiopia is land reform. Small plot size
means that if the rains fail, the crop fails. While the opposition
might be gathering protest votes its programme for the country is more
IMF recipes. They want to privatise the land leading to even more
farmers becoming bankrupt and the probable reintroduction of
landlordism and more rural to urban migration.

A socialist solution would be to provide interest free loans, cheap
fertilisers and machinery to the peasants; to help farmers invest in
irrigation and encourage farmer co-operatives so that crops could be
diversified. The few large private farms would be nationalised and run
as model farms. There would be an investment in education,
particularly for women, and health care. Private factories would be
seized and run for local need not the obscene profits of the ruling
class. Power would be taken back from the hated police and army and
neighbourhood committees would organise its own militia.

Through the recent months of struggle, Ethiopian workers and students
are beginning to realise the power they have, but only a revolutionary
workers party can take that power to its revolutionary conclusion.
(FifthInternational.org Global Newswire 17 January 2006 ISSUE #274)

*

Moroccan AMDH asks for the release of Saharawi political prisoners

Rabat, 18/01/2006 (SPS) -- A Moroccan human rights organisation asked
on Tuesday for the release of 14 Saharawi political prisoners,
currently detained in the Carcel Negra in the occupied city of El
Aaiun. It expressed "concern" about the situation of human rights in
Western Sahara, reported Algerian Press Service, APS.

In q press release concluding the works of the meeting of its Central
Bureau on Monday, the Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH) asked
for the immediate release of all Saharawi human rights activists and
the stopping of all lawsuits engaged by the Moroccan justice against
Saharawi political prisoners.

AMDH underlined that it is following with "concern" the situation of
14 Saharawi political prisoners, whose trials will take place this
January the 24th after many postponements and a first heavy sentences
pronounced by Moroccan colonial court last December against the prisoners.

The press release of the Moroccan NGO’s Central Bureau also denounced
"all human rights violations they (Saharawi activists) underwent since
their arrest to their condemnation by an illegal justice".

The 14 Saharawi human rights activists, the majority of whom were
arrested after the peaceful demonstrations started by the Saharawi
population in the occupied El Aaiun and in other Saharawi cities and
communities since last May 2005 to ask for the independence of Western
Sahara, were condemned last December the 13 and 14 to sentences going
between 6 months to 3 years, it should be recalled.

The defence of the Saharawi activists appealed against these sentences
and the trials will be undertaken this Tuesday the 24th of January.


Many international organisations, including Amnesty International and
Human Right Watch estimated that the Saharawi activists were condemned
after doubtful and unfair trials. (SPS)

Source: SAHARA PRESS SERVICE

*******

LETTERS

*

Bowing to Spontaneity

Dear Comrades,

What is the IRSP about? Should not we be about the POLITICAL
organisation of the working class in Ireland. Our aim is to provide
political LEADERSHIP to the emerging struggles of the people.

What are we concretely involved in at the present moment? When we look
about what our members do objectively, we see that on the ground they
carry out a lot of SOCIAL WORK. (ie organising children's day out,
reinsertion of former combatants etc) and COMMEMORATIVE ACTIVITIES (ie
plaque unveiling).

What is the political significance of those activities? As such,
social work carried out by our comrades is a legitimate activity. They
are doing - adapted to local circumstances - the same sort of work
that the Black Panthers Party carried out (like organising free
breakfasts), or Mao's directive to help the people in order to build a
red base.

However, where they can be criticised in that we have failed to
intrinsically relate them to the project of political organisation of
the working class and provide a political leadership. We are not
benevolent 'social workers', 'community activists' but TRIBUNES OF THE
PEOPLE.

One of our priority should be to clarify and make explicit how those
SOCIAL activities are strategically related to our central POLITICAL
tasks.

For example, how do these activities challenge the backward nature of
political and class consciouness in Ireland ? Do these activities
raise the political and class consciouness of the people? There is the
danger of comrades being complacent about the existing level of
political consciousness of the people and bowing to spontaneity.

I have the feeling that some comrades get involved in those activities
in order to prepare the ground for an ELECTORAL intervention. Have we
fully worked out the implications of a potential electoral
intervention? That should be clarified.

Because 'radical' councillors are not necessarily the same as
PROFESSIONAL REVOLUTIONARIES.

Let's say we had many more members, and all of them got involved in
every existing issue. What exactly are we trying to achieve? Do we
think that having IRSM members leading all those struggles will be
SUFFICIENT, in itself to bring about a social revolution whenever the
time is ripe? No. What we have there is an accumulation of various issues.

We need to understand what we are trying to achieve. According to
scientific socialism, capitalism is a dynamic system which destroys
the conditions for its own sustainability. From the point of view of
RISK MANAGEMENT it is far more volatile and prone to cause disasters
than other ways of organising society.

From this, we try to place Ireland within the global capitalist
system, the nature of its insertion. And also how the main local
social actors (the working class and the bourgeoisie) are inserted
internationally. We need to forecast from global trends when crisis
time is likely to hit the Irish social formation.

What are the central issues, the MAIN CONTRADICTION (as Mao would have
put it) affecting the balance of forces between classes in Ireland?
What is its principal aspect? Mentioning a whole series of issues from
water taxes to neutrality fails to identify the main contradiction.
(This is not a criticism of the political secretary, just pointing
that we need to do some further thinking.)

Then once the principal and secondary contradictions are identified,
we need to ask ourselves: what STRENGTHENS our class and political
current? What WEAKENS the enemy? Who is the principal enemy? Who are
our allies? An objective analysis of strenghts and weaknesses needs to
be developed.

These are just some thoughts to open political debate amongst our
comrades.

Comrade L.

[The above is a slightly modified version of a document by an IRSP
comrade. We include it to encourage debate and welcome responses to
this from our readers.]

*

REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST YOUTH MOVEMENT RAFFLE

The RSYM is selling tickets for a raffle will be April 17th, 11am at
Costello House. The prizes are a POW-made bodhrán (traditional Irish
drum), DVDs and assorted IRSM merchandise valued around 15 euro. The
price of each ticket is 2 euro, 1 pound or 3 dollars.

The funds raised from raffle ticket sales will help RSYM to acquire a
banner, badges, pay for their website and so on. It's important work
in establishing the IRSM's youth wing and all sales are greatly
appreciated!

For North American purchases, contact tj@irsm.org. For those in Ireland
and Europe contact sp@rsym.org.

Also, if any IRSM comrades or members can assist us in selling tickets
on their own, contact me and we'd be happy to give you more tickets
to sell.

*

Demand justice in Chile!

On September 11, 1973 in Chile a coup d'état led by General Augusto
Pinochet defeated the democratic government of Salvador Allende and
resulted in thousands of deaths, disappeared, tortured, exiled,
impoverished, repressed, discriminated, mistreated and exploited people.

Today, 32 years later, the majority of the disappearances and
assassinations remain unresolved and almost all the murderers and
torturers enjoy freedom. We ask for your signature on this letter to
demand the end to impunity in Chile in order to build a democratic
society and future.

Demand justice in Chile!
SIGN ON NOW!

December 2005

Open letter to:

Hon. Ricardo Lagos E., President of Chile
Hon. Marcos Libedisnsky, President of the Supreme Court of Chile

We, the undersigned citizens of Chile and of the world, are deeply
concerned about the very slow progress of the process of discovery of
the truth, and of the trial and conviction of those responsible for
violations of human rights committed during the military dictatorship.

While we are pleased at the news that Augusto Pinochet will finally
face legal proceedings, it is nevertheless the case that the majority
of the individuals responsible for crimes against humanity are still
enjoying complete freedom, while their victims and their family
members continue to search for truth and justice.

Among the many pending cases are those of the officers and members of
the Chilean Air Force, led by Gen. (r) Edgar Ceballos Jones, who
first, under the cover of SIFA and DIFA, and later via the Joint
Command, disappeared dozens of people, summarily executed Jose Bordas
Paz and Alfonso Carreño Diaz, and tortured hundreds of civilians.
These victims even included fellow soldiers who refused to participate
in such vile acts, including the late Gen. Alberto Bachelet.

All of the documentation needed to try the authors of these acts is
already in the hands of the courts of justice. The fact that these
crimes have not been brought to justice is due only to the lack of
political will on the part of the three branches of government in Chile.

On the other hand, we salute the positive examples of Judges Juan
Guzmán and Carlos Cerda, members of the Supreme Court, and of Judge
Milton Juica and José Benquis, as well as many others, who we thank
for their professional ethics and their humanity. To them, to the
victims and their families, to national and international solidarity,
and to civil society and human rights organizations, we owe the few
advances that have been made so far.

Thirty two years should be enough time to resolve these cases and
bring the guilty to justice. If these cases can not be resolved by the
Chilean legal system, then it will be necessary to use international
legal mechanisms which are beyond the reach of national impunity.

*

Inigo Makazaga
27 Years Old, Serving Ext. (SP)

Iñigo Makazaga is a 27 years old basque imprisoned at Belmarsh
(London), under special security regime due to the serious charges
that are being made against him by the Spanish government for almost 3
years. After more than 4 years he is still waiting to face a demand
for extradition that is being carried by the Spanish government.

Iñigo has been in isolation regime at Belmarsh High Security Unit for
3 of the 4 years he is in this prison. During these years he has spent
around 23h a day in his cell. Last september a Judge reduced his
charges taking into account the weakness of the Spanish government’s
evidences and he was moved on January 2005 from Category A to Category
B but he is still waiting the decission about his extradition from the
Home Officer who is delaying it, in the meantime Iñigo is still in
Belmarsh. This situation is a continuation of an unjustified sentence.
Iñigo was an active militant in the basque student movement as well as
a member of an Herri Batasuna’s comitee (Basque left-wing party which
was banned under J. M. Aznar’s government).

He suffered mistreatment at the hands of the Spanish police when
arrested as he quotes: "they threatened to split my head open if I
didn’t state what they wanted me to, all the while they punched me in
the shoulders, in the chest, the ears and pulled my hair and threw me
against the wall and to the floor."

Iñigo is just one of thousands of Basques, who due to their political
actions, have had to seek refuge in different parts of the world, as a
consequence of the repression and conflict situation in the Basque
Country.

The Spanish media has already condemned Iñigo, violaiting his right to
be presumed innocent. Amnesty International and the UN human rights
comissioner name the Spanish State in their report about Torture
worldwide.

After 4 years in jail Iñigo is still waiting for the resolution of his
case. If Iñigo is extradited, he risks being yet another case of
Torture in the next report of these organizations.

Write a Letter or send a post card of support and solidarity to Iñigo:

Iñigo Makazaga
Prisoner No. FF7630
HMP Belmarsh Western Way Thamesmead
LONDON SE28 0EB

For more information on Iñigo's fight and the Basque Campaign against
Extradition: http://www.geocities.com/basquecampaign/extradition/index.htm

Basque Campaign London
http://www.geocities.com/basquecampaign/

Until All Are Free - We Are All Imprisoned!

*

FRONTLINE LATIN AMERICA No 2 A NEW QUARTERLY NEWSPAPER

In this issue:

Students and Coke: ‘Constructive Engagement’ The Big Debate
Reports on international resistance to Coca-Cola and Nestlé
Higher Education special
Indigenous resistance: A continent wakes up to its murderous history
BP on trial: Colombian campesinos take BP to court
Developments in Latin America: Bush in Argentina, FTAA dead in the
water, San José update,
Popular Women’s Organisation interview
Y MUCHO MÁS!

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! UK subscription rates: £5 per annum

JOIN THE COLOMBIA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN!
Member subscription includes membership to the Colombia Solidarity
Campaign
Individuals: waged £15.00, unwaged £7.50, organisations £30/60/120.

Mark category of required subscription and return with payment made
out to 'Colombia Solidarity Campaign', to Colombia Solidarity
Campaign, PO Box 8446, London N17 6PJ

*******

WHAT'S ON

Bloody Sunday in Derry
Wednesday 25th January 2006

8.00pm FILM
The Salt of the Earth (1954, US, 94mins, Feature)
Directed by Herbert Biberman-one of the "Hollywood Ten" jailed for
refusing to cooperate with McCarthy’s Congressional inquiries the film
tells the story of a strike by Mexican-American workers over dangerous
working conditions. It was banned in the US for its daring political
content which anticipated the civil rights and feminism movements by
nearly ten years.
Venue: The Gasyard Centre, Lecky Road

Thursday 26th January 2006

8.00pm DRAMA
Political Assassinator In a world increasingly structured by military
power what are the physical, psychological, and spiritual consequences
of being a soldier, of forgoing moral considerations and saying "My
country right or wrong"? Political Assassinator takes the
Israeli/Palestinian conflict as the context for a riveting exploration
of the nature of War in our time. Performed by Yoram Mosenzon this is
a chance to see a world class artist at the height of his powers
taking on a crucial question.
Venue: The Playhouse, Artillary Street

Friday 27th January 2006

8.00pm THE ANNUAL BLOODY SUNDAY MEMORIAL LECTURE
Towards a Just Ireland The annual Bloody Sunday Memorial Lecture will
this year be delivered by Alan McBride, whose wife Sharon was one of
ten people killed in the IRA’s bombing of Frizzell’s fish shop on the
Shankill Road on the 23rd October 1993.
Venue: Main Hall, The Guildhall, Guildhall Square

Saturday 28th January 2006

12.00pm PANEL DISCUSSION
What Justice Demands of Saville
A panel of local people who witnessed events on the day or lost a
loved one will give their personal views on what the community needs
to be able to heal the wound of Bloody Sunday and move on. Panel:
Mickey McKinney (family member), Eamon McDermot (journalist) and
former Bishop of Derry, Edward Daily. The event will be chaired by
Angela Hegarty who will also offer her view as a lawyer and human
rights activist.
Venue: Main Hall, Pilots Row, Rossville Street

1.00 – 5.00 CONFERENCE
Dealing with the legacy of the conflict, dangers and opportunities?

1.00 – 1.45 Introduction
1.45 – 3.30 Workshops x 3
3.30 – 5.00 Report Back

With the welcome withdrawal of the proposed NI Offences Bill, the
establishment of the Historical Enquiries Team and news that the
Police Ombudsman will also investigate ‘historic’ cases we ask where
now for families who have lost loved ones to state forces in the
conflict.
Following the opening discussion the conference will then break up
into workshops, reconvene with a report back and draw the event to end
with a closing discussion.
Venue: Main Hall (Introduction & Report Back), Pilots Row, Rossville
Street

2.30pm PANEL DISCUSSION
FOR SALE - By Auction, A Small Offshore Island, Its People, Its
Environment, Its Integrity Where the Pentagon calls the shots in
Shannon, Shell imprisons farmers from Mayo and warmonger Raytheon is
welcome to Derry, are you for sale? This event will see a panel of
activists speak about the campaigns against corporate power and
corporate greed and the alternatives to doing nothing.
Venue: Main Hall, Pilots Row, Rossville Street

4.00pm DISCUSSION
Anarchism, the State and Justice
Can justice really be achieved if we get someone else to do it on our
behalf – a lawyer, an NGO, a priest or a political leader? Are the
means we use to achieve social justice as important as achieving
social justice itself? And how important are the different political
philosophies – reformism, nationalism, republicanism, and socialism -
in getting to our goals? From the same tradition that inspired Emma
Goldman, Mahatma Gandhi, Noam Chomsky and Leo Tolstoy, the Workers
Solidarity Movement set out the case for Anarchism.
Venue: Committee Room, Pilots Row, Rossville Street

7.00pm FILM
Death in Gaza (UK, 2004, 80 mins, Documentary)
Written/Reported by Saira Shah, Filmed/Directed by James Millar, this
is his poignant and unflinching look at the lives of three Palestinian
children caught up in the cycle of violence, dramatically culminating
in the director’s own death at the hands of the Israeli Defence Forces.
Venue: Theatre, Pilots Row, Rossville Street

9.00pm DRAMA
Political Assassinator In a world increasingly structured by military
power what are the physical, psychological, and spiritual consequences
of being a soldier, of forgoing moral considerations and saying "My
country right or wrong"? Political Assassinator takes the
Israeli/Palestinian conflict as the context for a riveting exploration
of the nature of War in our time. Performed by Yoram Mosenzon this is
a chance to see a world class artist at the height of his powers
taking on a crucial question.
Venue: Theatre, Pilots Row, Rossville Street

9.00pm SOCIAL EVENT / FUNDRAISER
The all important fundraiser social event that gives people a chance
let their hair down or gel it up. Live bands & DJs
Social Event @ the Gasyard Centre:
Venue: The Gasyard Centre, Lecky Road

Sunday 29th January 2006

11.00am MEMORIAL SERVICE

Wreath Laying Ceremony and Prayer Service – everyone welcome.
Bloody Sunday Monument, Rossville Street

2.30pm ANNUAL BLOODY SUNDAY COMMEMORATIVE MARCH
The Annual Bloody Sunday Commemorative March, followed by rally at
Free Derry Wall. At the close of the rally the organisers are asking
people to light a candle (3637 in total) in memory of all those people
who lost their lives as a result of the conflict. Candles will be
provided freely. Speakers: representative from Sinn Fein, SDLP and
Mark Thompson (Relatives for Justice) Chaired by Kay Duddy, sister of
Jackie Duddy who was one of the fourteen killed on the day.
Assemble 2.30pm Creggan Shops

Note: On Sunday 29th Café Creggan on Fanad Drive, Creggan will open
from 11am to 3pm serving lunch and dinner.

The Bloody Sunday Centre has moved from Foyle Street to Glenfada Park
in the Bogside. The Centre will be open to the public at 9.30am to 4pm
every week day from Monday 23rd January. Phone number 028 71 360880

For further information on the programme of events please contact
Adrian Kerr @ the Bloody Centre 028 71360880

Bloody Weekend Organising Committee

Dublin Protest - Bloody Sunday Rally

A Rally will be held at the GPO in Dublin on Saturday January 28th
from 1PM to 3PM ,
to remember the 14 people massacred by British forces in Derry on
January 30 , 1972 .

All welcome!

Scotland Protest - Bloody Sunday Commemoration

MARCH & RALLY

SUNDAY 29TH JANUARY 2006

ASSEMBLE 10.30AM SHAMROCK STREET, GLASGOW CITY CENTRE,

(RALLY POINT: ROYSTONHILL)

SPEAKERS IN ATTENDANCE, ALL WELLCOME!

*

Wednesday, 25 January

Challenging the Invisibility of Black and Ethnic Minority Women in
Ireland (January 25, Dublin)

A seminar organised by AkiDwA on Wednesday 25th January 2006 From
10.00 am- 5.00 pm at the Ripley Hotel, Talbot Street, Dublin 1.

CONFERENCE BACKGROUND
While the invisibility of black and ethnic minority women continue to
be apparent, women from different backgrounds who have chosen Ireland
as their home continue to empower themselves through organising and
networking. Majority have and are prepared to speak out mainly on
issues that affect them in their lives.

With little or no resources these women uses whatever they have to
improve their lives and that of their communities. This conference is
being organised by Akina Dada wa Africa (AkiDwA) to give such women
space to speak for themselves, share their experiences and as well
strategise on how they can make greater impacts.

The aims of the conference are
To provide solidarity, support, awareness and to build links with
black and ethnic minority women active in the areas of their own
development
To provide a platform for black and ethnic minority women where they
can speak out
To challenge stereotypes and the invisibility imposed to black and
ethnic minority women
To provide practical strategy on how to move forward.
BOOK LAUNCH
Herstory - A book that consist 10 Migration stories of African women -
will be launched in the afternoon of the seminar. The stories narrate
how lives of these women use to be in Africa, what caused them to
migrate and the migration Journey. The publication of the book was
funded by Ireland Funds.

*

Sunday, 26 January

VISIT PALESTINE (80 minutes Film)
Sunday 26th January 7pm Tricycle Cinema, 269 Kilburn High Road, London
NW6

Tickets £8 and £7 - BOX OFFICE Telephone 020 7328 1000

"An astonishing piece of work, a wonderful film...quite unlike
anything I've seen." - John Pilger

What drives a young, well-educated Irishwoman to volunteer as a "peace
activist" in the Middle East? Caiomhe Butterly is one of a growing
number of volunteers who risk their own safety to intervene in the
long-running and bloody conflict between Israel and Palestine. Several
internationals, including her, have now been injured. Some have died.

In this film, she describes witnessing the aftermath of the attack on
Jenin in April 2002. The film follows her work, the main emphasis
being "the accompaniment of communities at risk". Despite being
threatened, shot in the leg and deported later that year, she is
determined to go back. In the interim, she brings her story back to
her native Ireland at public meetings, receives a Time Magazine
"European Hero Award", and travels to post-war Iraq to visit the
Palestinian refugee camps. She arrives back in Jenin, shortly before a
young woman from that community, Hanadi Jaradat, blows herself up in a
suicide bombing in Haifa.

Activists such as Butterly are usually stereotyped as lunatics,
meddlers or saints. This film offers an insight into a brave, honest,
determined yet self-critical woman who takes direct action to the
limit, with no quest for glory. She also serves as a conduit into the
everyday lives of Palestinians, who are also usually presented to the
viewer in a one-dimensional way, as fighters or victims, heroes or
fanatics. The film gives us a rare chance to see what she calls "the
spaces of beauty and joy" created by a people under occupation.

*

Wednesday, 8 March

International Women’s Day Wednesday 8th March 2006

Day and Evening events

Marking the 70th Anniversary of the Spanish Anti-Fascist War 1936-1939

The Clarion Call; Women & the Spanish Civil War: A talk and
photo/poster presentation will be given by Angela Jackson, in the
Central Hall, Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education on
Wednesday the 8th March 12.30pm to 15.30pm. (Refreshments at
12.30pm:)Edwina Stewart will introduce Angela Jackson and question
time/debate will be chaired by Myrtle Hill.

The BIFHE are hosting this event in the College Square East, as part
of their Centenary celebrations. On show for the first time will be a
photographic exhibition "A HUNDRED YEARS OF WOMEN AT THE TECH"
contrasting women who attended the college in the early part of the
20th century with women who attend the college in the present day.
(Leaflet will be available shortly).

Angela Jackson, a doctor of History from the University of Essex, now
lives in the Priorat, Catalonia. She moved there in 2002 after
visiting the area to research for her book, British Women and the
Spanish Civil War. (Routledge, London, 2002) Her interest in the
history of the cave hospital near the village of La Bisbal de Falset
led to the publication of a further book in Catalan and English,
Beyond the Battlefield (Warren & Pell, Pontypool, 2005). She continues
to be involved in the subject of memory and remembrance of the war
though her work as president of the association ‘No Jubilem La
Memòria’. The work of the group so far has included the production of
a documentary based on interviews with International Brigaders and
local people, the organisation of commemorative events and lectures,
and the collection and exhibition of photographs taken in the area
during the civil war.

Edwina Stewart was a teacher in Ashfield Girls School and Comber High
School. Following in her parents footsteps (they were founder members
of the Communist Party of Ireland) Edwina continues her membership of
the CPI, and it is in this capacity that she knew some of those
families whose relatives went to fight in Spain against fascism. Her
mother Sadie Menzies was involved in the International Women’s Day
events in the late 1940’s. Edwina was also honorary secretary of the
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association from 1969 until the late
‘70’s. And as she says "I joined practically every peace and
solidarity organisation and I’m not finished yet." (Cited by Marilyn
Hyndman in Further Afield: Journeys from a Protestant past 1996) In
1962 as a serving teacher, Edwina was a student in Commercial Studies
at the ‘Tech’ in Belfast.

Myrtle Hill, who returned to study as a housewife and mother, is
currently Director of the Centre for Women’s Studies at Queen’s
University, Belfast. A senior lecturer in social, religious and
women’s history, she has published widely in these areas; her most
recent book is Women in Ireland: A Century of Change, Belfast, 2003.
She continues to work on various aspects of Irish, particularly
northern Irish women’s history, focusing more recently on the
complexities of how events are recorded and remembered. As coordinator
of the University’s Access Programme, she maintains a strong interest
in the promotion of opportunities for mature students.

Social Event: 8th March: In the evening there will be an IWD event
held in the John Hewitt pub in Donegall Street 7.15pm to late. "Into
the Fire" a film about American Women’s involvement in the Spanish
Civil War will be shown, followed by musicians/singers/poets,
Geraldine Bradley, Paul Bradley; Chad Dughie, Victoria Gleason &
others plus a poem sent by Sinead Morrissey. All proceeds from this
event will go the International Brigades Commemoration Committee who
intends to establish a memorial to those Belfast people who died
fighting with the International Brigade in Spain. (£6 waged & £2.00
unwaged)

Relatives of the International Brigade, who went to Spain from Ireland
will invited to the events which are supported by the International
Brigades Commemoration Committee; BIFHE; Belfast & District Trade
Union Council; and partly funded by the Northern Ireland Women’s
Rights Movement. These events should appeal women’s organisations,
students, historians, trade unionists, academics, & political activists.

All People Welcome

*******

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*

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The Plough Vol 03 No 12

The Plough
Volume 3, Number 12
18 January 2006

E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial: Built In Sectarianism
2) Campaign for an Independent Left
3) From the Newspapers
4) Letters
5) What's On

*******

EDITORIAL: BUILT IN SECTARIANISM

One of the main reasons for the IRSP opposing the Good Friday
Agreement (but not the only reason), was the sectarian basis on which
it was founded. Sectarianism should be anathema to all republicans but
unfortunately not only did the Good Friday Agreement recognise the
existence of sectarianism it put in place mechanisms to perpetuate
that sectarianism. The inevitable result was the increase of sectarian
attacks on interface areas and every issue of political importance is
now viewed through the prism of how this affects "my side."

Take the issue of housing. In North Belfast, there is a shortage of
suitable accommodation for many people. There is also a surfeit both
of housing and housing space. Unfortunately, the need for housing
rests most heavily on those perceived to be from a nationalist or
Catholic background. The surplus housing and available space is in
areas perceived to be unionist and Protestant. Result? Stalemate and a
lack of housing for nationalists. This is just one of many issues of a
socio-economic nature that is reduced to sectarian headcount.

Despite the best efforts of many progressive people in both
communities including both republicans and loyalists of all shades to
reduce sectarian tensions and improve contacts across the sectarian
divides the task is monumental.

The political commentator Eamonn McCann has recently pointed out that
pro-GFA commentators Bruce Arnold and Fintan O'Toole are now beginning
to recognize the validity of the argument that those of us opposed to
the GFA put forward. In the words of O'Toole, "the divisions have been
formalised, entrenched and deepened."

A founder member of the Queens Republican Club in 1967 and now an
Irish News columnist, Paddy Murphy, wrote that the Agreement had
"brought in a new form of State-sponsored sectarianism," -- "with the
greatest optimism in the world, it is difficult to see how a sectarian
system can produce normal politics." (IN, 31/12/05)

Objectively speaking, regardless of their subjective desires or
aspirations, all those parties who are trying to work the agreement
are perpetuating sectarianism. If either Sinn Fein or the SDLP had the
real interests of all the people of Ireland at heart they would
immediately break from the millstone of the GFA, recognize that the
Northern state is now so corrupted with sectarianism and state and
loyalist collusion that its genuine reform is now not possible. The
need now is to put before the people of all Ireland and especially
those who perceive themselves as unionists the case for a unified
political, social and economic structure.

But while these so called mainstream parties engage in their ritual
sectarian games the rest of us can not afford to sit smugly on the
side lines saying, "ya boo we told you so!"

There is an onus on all of us who consider ourselves progressive
whether from the socialist or republican camp to throw ourselves into
the class struggles that are emerging and in so doing challenge both
existing political and religious sectarianism and state sectarianism.
We will not have to look too far for the issues that everyday affect
the working people on the island -- racism, water-rates (see below on
CAWP), waste charges, low wage exploitation, US troops in Shannon,
privatisation, hospital waiting lists, sweetheart deals with
multinationals, partnership deals between trade unions and government.

On all of these class-based issues, we as republicans can co-operate
with others but we will not take our eye of the fact that the class
and the national question are so intertwined that they cannot be
separated. We will not be like some on the left, great
anti-imperialists when the struggle is far away and ignore the
struggle on our own doorstep.

*******

CAMPAIGN FOR AN INDEPENDENT LEFT

Building a New Party of Working People -- Statement

[Last year the Tipperary South TD Mr Healy, along with independent
Dublin city councillor Joan Collins and Des Derwin, vice-president of
the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, called for a new independent party
of the left". Discussions about a possible "regroupment" on the left
had included Mr Healy's own organisation, the South Tipperary Workers'
and Unemployed Action Group; the Dublin-based Community and Workers'
Action Group; the Irish Socialist Network; the supporters of Red
Banner magazine; and a number of individual activists and independent
socialists. We include their founding statement in The Plough for
information purposes only.]

The individuals and groups involved in the Campaign for an Independent
Left are united by the common aim of a radical transformation of Irish
society. We are committed to the struggle to build a society where
working people democratically control all aspects of their lives --
social, economic, cultural and political -- and where the gap between
rich and poor is eliminated. To help achieve this transformation, we
believe it is necessary to develop a new independent all-Ireland party
of working people. By independent, we mean a party that we will oppose
in real terms the right wing pro-capital parties, north and south, and
will under no circumstances enter into government with them. This will
be a grassroots campaigning party-broad, pluralist, democratic, and
with no agenda other than advancing the interests of working people.
We now commit ourselves to campaigning for such a party, winning over
people active in the labour movement, community campaigns, and the
various movements for social justice to get involved in making it a
reality.

The following are the initial points of basic political agreement that
have brought us together to begin this process.

· No coalition with parties of the right, under any circumstances.

· Public ownership and democratic control of the country's resources
and services, so that they can be developed in the interests of
working people and our environment. An end to the privatisation or
commercialisation of public services.

· A comprehensive universal public health-care system. An end to all
state subsidies for private health care.

· A free, secular education system, aimed at the full and equal
development of each human being from pre-school to university. An end
to all state subsidies for private education

· The provision of housing as a basic right

· A public transport system based on the needs of users, not profit,
and the protection of the environment.

· A progressive taxation system that will redistribute wealth, making
the rich pay their fair share, and lifting the burden of stealth and
double taxes from working people.

· No to so-called "social partnership". We want trade unions run
democratically by their members, and fighting for their interests.
Repeal all restrictive legislation against union activity. Unite Irish
and migrant workers by fighting for basic trade union rights and
conditions for all workers.

· We believe in equality and solidarity between all working people --
men and women, black and white, Travellers and settled people,
Catholic and Protestant. We will offer 100 percent opposition to all
forms of racism, sexism and sectarianism.

· We are for an inclusive, multi-cultural society with equal rights
for all; asylum seekers should have the right to work; for an end to
deportations; full citizenship for all children born in Ireland; work
permits to be issued to workers and not employers.

· A foreign policy based on opposition to imperialism, and solidarity
with those fighting for democracy, justice and peace, the
re-establishment and maintenance of military neutrality, opposition to
an EU dominated by big business and for a Europe of solidarity between
working people.

We appeal to all individuals and groups who share our vision of a new
party of working people to contact us and help build it in practice'.

*******

FROM THE NEWSPAPERS

*

Stalwarts of unionism must adapt and change to survive

15 January 2006

By Tom McGurk

The 'Love Ulster' campaign is heading south.

Led by Willie Frazer, spokesman for victims' group Families Acting for
Innocent Relatives (FAIR), the group is coming to protest outside the
Dáil. What exactly it is protesting about is somewhat unclear: there's
a litany of the usual grievances post-Good Friday Agreement but, on
television recently, Frazer said they wanted to find out if the South
really believed in equality for all.

That subtext is presumably to do with testing the tolerance of the
citizens of Dublin with a march containing six Orange bands and the
usual Union Jack-waving ragbag of hangers-on.

At this point, two things are important to emphasise: firstly, that
peaceful protest should be tolerated, and secondly, that it would be a
dreadful mistake to react to the provocation that is somehow inimical
to Orange parades.

Since, in the first instance, Orange parading in the North was always
about public displays of territorialism, it is important that the
marchers discover that Dublin is not a series of territories but an
authentic public space for citizenship.

On one level, I'm sure there will be vast curiosity from Dubliners,
who rarely get an opportunity to see live 18th century political
theatre. On another, there will be a profound poignancy to the whole
occasion.

Frazer's ragged army, a living museum piece of a long-past imperial
age, deserves our compassion, not our contempt. Over a century, as the
imperial tide has ebbed away from this island, the last loyal tribe
now finds itself trapped on a small disappearing sandbank they call
'Ulster'.

Unable to contemplate moving into deeper waters to effect their
rescue, they simply sit there now -- generation after generation --
solemnly saying no. Since 1998, the rescue boats have been hovering
nearby, but to no avail.

Shivering in the 21st century winds that blow from all directions,
they have simply wrapped themselves in the last remaining mantle of
sectarianism and refused to budge.

Remarkably, there is not among them now a single voice who would dare
articulate the extraordinary moment of both political and economic
regeneration that awaits them, had they the wit to see it. Not 20
minutes from Frazer's door sits one of the wealthiest economies in the
world.

Where once the border divided a poor, mostly agricultural South from a
heavily subsidised but wealthier North, now it divides economic
achievement from economic failure. One economy has become the envy of
Europe; the other has become a basket-case.

Where are those apparently traditional Northern protestant virtues of
hard work, enterprise and economic self-sufficiency that we once used
to hear so much about?

Indeed, what shade now are the "grey skies of an Irish Republic" so
beloved of the Sandy Row graffiti artists?

London is now showing all the signs of a deep impatience with Northern
Irish unionism. In the context of the past war, any reassessment of
the North's relationship with Britain would have been seen as a
concession to violence. But now, in the absence of violence, and with
a united Irish nationalist voice demanding a devolved power-sharing in
the North -- in tandem with a new and growing cross-border economic
relationship with the South -- the context is entirely different.
The days of the North having a favoured economic status in comparison
to regions of Britain are coming to an end, hastened by continuing
unionist political intransigence. With its vast dependence on public
service employment and a steadily growing subvention of over stg£5
billion a year from the British treasury, the shoe is beginning to pinch.

Northern Secretary Peter Hain has already sent signals of his
displeasure, and he has deliberately presented them as an addendum to
the forthcoming attempt to re-float the political structures.

Even worse, the social and economic crisis within traditional unionist
heartlands is beginning to fragment what were once homogenous, civic
and thrifty communities. A 'loyalist subculture' largely overseen by
the remnants of the loyalist paramilitaries has transformed these
communities into what might be termed a trailer-park world.
Unemployment and educational underachievement are everywhere and, even
from the unionist middle classes, the brain-drain to British
universities continues.

The lament that "our Protestant culture is being trampled on" simply
illustrates that the old heady brew of sectarian triumphalism will no
longer be tolerated either by the authorities or by nationalists.

That particular tide was stopped at Drumcree, and was finally turned
back during last year's Ardoyne riots.

When one also considers that any ongoing progress towards equality of
citizenship and cultures in the North is now being depicted by
unionism as a 'concession to Sinn Fein', the sheer scale of their
political bankruptcy becomes evident.

And whatever about a David Trimble-led UUP attempting the task ahead,
the prospects are slim that the DUP under Ian Paisley can face up to a
political legacy which it was primarily responsible for creating.

And now there is a new side to this ancient political Rubik's cube.
The recent decision to reduce local government to seven
super-councils, three of which are west of the Bann, raises a new
scenario in the context of future stalled political progress. The
temptation to devolve more and more power to this tier of local
government could create a Celtic Tiger-esque knock-on effect in the
nationalist-dominated councils west of the Bann.

Already, the town of Newry is benefiting from its geographical
hinterland, and the new M1 motorway is already radicalising employment
options in the wider region. Mid-Ulster and the border regions would
then have an opportunity for growing economic linkage that will have
inevitable political implications.

Daily, the unionist political sandbank grows smaller. Maybe it's a
vain hope but even Willie Frazer's bedraggled army, as they process
through Dublin, might sense the waters beckoning beyond.

*

Church is now too left-wing for Labour

Sunday, January 08, 2006

By Vincent Browne

It says something about our contemporary political culture when the
Catholic Archbishop of Dublin is significantly to the left of the
leader of the Irish Labour Party.

It's not because this particular archbishop is a raving leftie --
although he is a different political species to his predecessors.
Rather, it is that the current leader of the Labour Party is moving
the party further to the right than did any of his predecessors.

Michael O'Leary, one of those former leaders of the Labour Party, must
be squirming in embarrassment on his District Court bench. How could
the party -- which he and other stalwarts of the proletariat, such as
Ruairi Quinn, Dick Spring, Frank Cluskey and Brendan Corish, led so
valiantly -- ever have somersaulted over the already low divide
between Labour and the right-wing revanchists?

In an interview with the Irish Times last Tuesday, Pat Rabbitte
ridiculed the suggestion that he would favour an increase in any taxes
whatsoever. First, he said, there had to be "fairness" in the tax
code. But then, a rapid reversal: first there was a commitment not to
increase personal or corporation taxes, then, second, fairness in the
tax code.

Imagine the mindset of a Labour leader who says that.

Then he said: "The time may be coming when we will have to sit down
and examine whether we would have to look at whether a work permits
regime ought to be implemented in terms of some of this non-national
labour, even for countries in the European Union."

This from the leader of a party that supported the treaties that
provided for the free movement of labour through an enlarged EU, a
party that supposedly supports the rights and welfare of workers
everywhere, a party that always resisted the impulses of xenophobia
and chauvinism.

The coded message: "Keep out the blacks and the Polacks - vote Labour."

The only public figure who said this was unacceptable was the
Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. "Borders should be open. It's
what the entire EU exercise is about," he said. "We need workers. We
need managed migration, but people are not just economic units. They
may realise their dignity through work, but that dignity doesn't
evaporate when they have no work."

Ireland's immigration policy "should not be reactive or somehow
suspicious of people, but should be welcoming and integrating...lower
labour costs are indeed a significant factor in giving vitality to an
economy, but it is people themselves who are the driving force of a
modern, knowledge-based economy."

Martin said he supported "the suggestion of my Church of Ireland
colleague and friend, Archbishop John Neill, that people who have
lived peacefully and have made a decent life for themselves and their
children in Ireland for a five-year period should now have the
opportunity to have their status here regularised.

"Similar measures have been taken in many European Union states over
the years."

What is it about our politics that nobody in any of the main parties
-- including the Labour Party -- would venture anything as radical as
what the two Dublin archbishops have suggested? And they are not
talking about "opening the floodgates" to the "wretched of the earth".
They are talking about an elementally decent, fair, public policy.

I do not know whether Diarmuid Martin has yet spoken out about our
treatment of Travellers, but his predecessor, Desmond Connell, did so
frequently. So, too, have the likes of the Bishop of Killaloe, Willie
Walsh, and the Bishop of Cork, John Buckley.

But when last did someone in the Labour Party -- other that Liz
McManus -- do so? I don't recall a word being said by Rabbitte or
anybody senior in the party about the manslaughter of John Ward by the
Mayo farmer Padraig Nally.

When was the last time anyone in Labour complained about the antics of
Fine Gael's leader and three of his colleagues on that issue? The only
public figure I heard speaking out clearly on the matter was Michael
McDowell.

So here we have a clutch of Catholic bishops, at least one Church of
Ireland bishop and Michael McDowell taking positions on a crucial
issue of justice and fairness, far to the left of the Labour Party!

Last Friday, The Irish Times reported that the rate of cot death among
Traveller babies was now 12 times the national average. More than 20
per cent of Traveller families are still living either by the side of
the road or in basic halting sites, according to a new report which
said: "Travellers continue to have lower life expectancy, lower
education qualifications and, in many cases, unacceptable accommodation."

There was a time -- wasn't there? -- when the Labour Party would have
led a campaign to confront such endemic injustice. Now, again with the
exception of Liz McManus, what happens? The party keeps its collective
head down, fearful of frightening anybody.

It is time that the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin intervened directly
in politics here.

A direct takeover of the Labour Party is required. Diarmuid Martin as
leader and Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs-in-waiting, John
Neill as Minister for Education-in-waiting, Willie Walsh as Minister
for Social Welfare-in-waiting, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy as Minister
for Housing-in-waiting, and John Buckley as Minister for
Health-in-waiting.

In addition -- or alternatively -- bring back Michael O'Leary. We need
some left-wing politics, now.

*

Nurses' postcard protest on overcrowding

The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) is stepping up the pressure on
Tanaiste Mary Harney over A&E overcrowding by launching a postcard
campaign to highlight the issue.The protest, part of the "Enough is
Enough" campaign against the number of people on trolleys in emergency
wards across the country, was launched at the INO's head office in Dublin.

The postcards are available on the organisation's website and in A&E
departments.

The INO is hoping thousands of patients, their relatives and members
of the public will return the postcards, which will then be sent on to
the Tanaiste.

According to the nurses union the crisis in emergency wards is as bad
as it has ever been.The second phase of their "Enough is Enough"
campaign - which previously saw nurses holding lunchtime protests
outside hospitals - comes as hundreds of people a day are on trolleys
in A&E wards across the country.

*

The US has used torture for decades

By Naomi Klein

Saturday December 10 2005
The Guardian

It was the "Mission Accomplished" of George Bush's second term, and an
announcement of that magnitude called for a suitably dramatic
location. But what was the right backdrop for the infamous "We do not
torture" declaration? With characteristic audacity, the Bush team
settled on downtown Panama City.

It was certainly bold. An hour and a half's drive from where Bush
stood, the US military ran the notorious School of the Americas from
1946 to 1984, a sinister educational institution that, if it had a
motto, might have been "We do torture". It is here in Panama, and
later at the school's new location in Fort Benning, Georgia, where the
roots of the current torture scandals can be found.

According to declassified training manuals, SOA students -- military
and police officers from across the hemisphere -- were instructed in
many of the same "coercive interrogation" techniques that have since
gone to Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib: early morning capture to maximise
shock, immediate hooding and blindfolding, forced nudity, sensory
deprivation, sensory overload, sleep and food "manipulation",
humiliation, extreme temperatures, isolation, stress positions -- and
worse. In 1996 President Clinton's Intelligence Oversight Board
admitted that US-produced training materials condoned "execution of
guerrillas, extortion, physical abuse, coercion and false imprisonment".

Some Panama school graduates went on to commit the continent's
greatest war crimes of the past half-century: the murders of
Archbishop Oscar Romero and six Jesuit priests in El Salvador; the
systematic theft of babies from Argentina's "disappeared" prisoners;
the massacre of 900 civilians in El Mozote in El Salvador; and
military coups too numerous to list here.

Yet when covering the Bush announcement, not a single mainstream news
outlet mentioned the location's sordid history. How could they? That
would require something totally absent from the debate: an admission
that the embrace of torture by US officials has been integral to US
foreign policy since the Vietnam war.

It's a history exhaustively documented in an avalanche of books,
declassified documents, CIA training manuals, court records and truth
commissions. In his forthcoming book, A Question of Torture, Alfred
McCoy synthesises this evidence, producing a riveting account of how
monstrous CIA-funded experiments on psychiatric patients and prisoners
in the 1950s turned into a template for what he calls "no-touch
torture", based on sensory deprivation and self-inflicted pain. McCoy
traces how these methods were field-tested by CIA agents in Vietnam as
part of the Phoenix programme and then imported to Latin America and
Asia under the guise of police training.

It is not only apologists for torture who ignore this history when
they blame abuses on "a few bad apples". A startling number of
torture's most prominent opponents keep telling us that the idea of
torturing prisoners first occurred to US officials on September 11
2001, at which point the methods used in Guantanamo apparently
emerged, fully formed, from the sadistic recesses of Dick Cheney's and
Donald Rumsfeld's brains. Up until that moment, we are told, America
fought its enemies while keeping its humanity intact.

The principal propagator of this narrative (what Garry Wills termed
"original sinlessness") is Senator John McCain. Writing in Newsweek on
the need to ban torture, McCain says that when he was a prisoner of
war in Hanoi, he held fast to the knowledge "that we were different
from our enemies...that we, if the roles were reversed, would not
disgrace ourselves by committing or approving such mistreatment of
them". It is a stunning historical distortion. By the time McCain was
taken captive, the CIA had launched the Phoenix programme and, as
McCoy writes, "its agents were operating 40 interrogation centres in
South Vietnam that killed more than 20,000 suspects and tortured
thousands more."

Does it somehow lessen today's horrors to admit that this is not the
first time the US government has used torture, that it has operated
secret prisons before, that it has actively supported regimes that
tried to erase the left by dropping students out of airplanes? That,
closer to home, photographs of lynchings were traded and sold as
trophies and warnings? Many seem to think so. On November 8,
Democratic Congressman Jim McDermott made the astonishing claim to the
House of Representatives that "America has never had a question about
its moral integrity, until now".

Other cultures deal with a legacy of torture by declaring "Never
again!" Why do so many Americans insist on dealing with the current
torture crisis by crying "Never before"? I suspect it stems from a
sincere desire to convey the seriousness of this administration's
crimes. And its open embrace of torture is indeed unprecedented.

But let's be clear about what is unprecedented: not the torture, but
the openness. Past administrations kept their "black ops" secret; the
crimes were sanctioned but they were committed in the shadows,
officially denied and condemned. The Bush administration has broken
this deal: post-9/11, it demanded the right to torture without shame,
legitimised by new definitions and new laws.

Despite all the talk of outsourced torture, the real innovation has
been in-sourcing, with prisoners being abused by US citizens in US-run
prisons and transported to third countries in US planes. It is this
departure from clandestine etiquette that has so much of the military
and intelligence community up in arms: Bush has robbed everyone of
plausible deniability. This shift is of huge significance. When
torture is covertly practised but officially and legally repudiated,
there is still hope that if atrocities are exposed, justice could
prevail. When torture is pseudo-legal and those responsible deny that
it is torture, what dies is what Hannah Arendt called "the juridical
person in man". Soon victims no longer bother to search for justice,
so sure are they of the futility, and danger, of that quest. This is a
larger mirror of what happens inside the torture chamber, when
prisoners are told they can scream all they want because no one can
hear them and no one is going to save them.

The terrible irony of the anti-historicism of the torture debate is
that in the name of eradicating future abuses, past crimes are being
erased from the record. Since the US has never had truth commissions,
the memory of its complicity in far-away crimes has always been
fragile. Now these memories are fading further, and the disappeared
are disappearing again.

This casual amnesia does a disservice not only to the victims, but
also to the cause of trying to remove torture from the US policy
arsenal once and for all. Already there are signs that the
administration will deal with the uproar by returning to plausible
deniability. The McCain amendment protects every "individual in the
custody or under the physical control of the United States
government"; it says nothing about torture training or buying
information from the exploding industry of for-profit interrogators.

And in Iraq the dirty work is already being handed over to Iraqi death
squads, trained by the US and supervised by commanders like Jim
Steele, who prepared for the job by setting up similar units in El
Salvador. The US role in training and supervising Iraq's interior
ministry was forgotten, moreover, when 173 prisoners were recently
discovered in a ministry dungeon, some tortured so badly that their
skin was falling off. "Look, it's a sovereign country. The Iraqi
government exists," Rumsfeld said. He sounded just like the CIA's
William Colby who, asked in a 1971 Congressional probe about the
thousands killed under Phoenix, a programme he helped launch, replied
that it was now "entirely a South Vietnamese programme".

As McCoy says, "if you don't understand the history and the depths of
the institutional and public complicity, then you can't begin to
undertake meaningful reforms." Lawmakers will respond to pressure by
eliminating one small piece of the torture apparatus: closing a
prison, shutting down a programme, even demanding the resignation of a
really bad apple like Rumsfeld. But he warns, "they will preserve the
prerogative to torture."

*******

LETTERS

*

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Chicago Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee
Colm Misteil, Concerned Group for Republican Prisoners - Chairman
Deirdre Fennessy, Irish Freedom Committee (Chicago Cumann)
TJ O Conchuir, Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
http://www.wemustbeunited.com/

CHICAGO, IL - January 14, 2006

IRISH REPUBLICANS UNITE TO COMMEMORATE HUNGER STRIKES

25 Years On Commemoration Says "We Must Be United!"

Twenty-Five years ago, ten brave men stunned the world by their
agonizing deaths on Hunger Strike in Long Kesh jail in Ireland. Seven
political prisoners allied to the Irish Republican Army, and three
representing the Irish National Liberation Army, sacrificed their
lives to expose injustice and brutality in British jails and to
restore Political Status to their imprisoned comrades. These ten
martyrs, united in cause and principle under different factions of
Irish Republicanism, left an unfulfilled legacy of strength in unity
to Irish Republicans today.

In 2006, the 25th Anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strikes, a diverse
group of US-based Irish Republican organizations will unite in homage
to the memories of these ten martyrs and to the causes and demands for
which they died. These organizations, the Concerned Group for
Republican Prisoners, the Chicago Cumann of The Irish Freedom
Committee, and The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North
America, will join together under the banner of the Chicago Hunger
Strike Commemoration Committee to stage a series of events in the
Chicago area to observe the historic 25th Anniversary of the 1981
Hunger Strikes. All groups involved are devoted to the pursuit of a
United and Sovereign 32 County Socialist Irish Republic, free of
British military and administrative rule; and to the support of the
families of Irish Republican political prisoners.

The Chicago Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee will stage several
events in the Chicago area in 2006 to mark the 25th Anniversary of the
Hunger Strikes. Event dates and locations are to be announced shortly,
but these will include a benefit Rock and Roll show in April, and a
Commemoration Dinner Dance to be hosted in August 2006. A special
Testimonial Journal will also be pressed for this historic occasion.
All funds raised at the Commemoration will go directly to aid the
families of current Irish Republican POWs, some of whom still fight
for the Political Status which the ten 1981 Hunger Strikers died for.

In the spirit of Theobald Wolfe Tone, who sought to unite "Catholic,
Protestant and Dissenter"; in acknowledgement of the leadership of the
Easter 1916 Rising, which united disparate Republican forces against
the might of Britain’s army; and most especially in the memory of the
1981 hunger strikers, who died united in protest inside the H-Blocks
of Long Kesh; The Chicago Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee will
do our part in unity to pay respectful homage to the legacy of ten
brave men who sacrificed all for Ireland.

IN TRIBUTE TO THE TEN MARTYRS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES ON HUNGER STRIKE

Vol. Bobby Sands, IRA
Vol. Francis Hughes, IRA
Vol. Patsy O'Hara, INLA
Vol. Raymond McCreesh, IRA
Vol. Joe McDonnell, IRA
Vol. Martin Hurson, IRA
Vol. Kevin Lynch, INLA
Vol. Kieran Doherty, IRA
Vol. Thomas McElwee, IRA
Vol. Michael Devine, INLA

Tiochfaidh ár lá!

For more information and event updates please visit The Chicago Hunger
Strike Commemoration Committee at http://www.wemustbeunited.com/ or
email the CHSCC at info@wemustbeunited.com.

The Concerned Group for Republican Prisoners (CGRP) was launched in
the summer of 2005 in response to a critical need for support for a
group of Irish Republican Political Prisoners on E4 landing at
Portlaoise Prison. The Irish Freedom Committee (IFC), formed in 1961,
is a Nation-wide organization which has supported anti-Treaty Irish
Republican political prisoners and their families for many years and
has lead numerous human rights campaigns, speaking tours, film
screenings, musical benefits, and public protests on behalf of the
prisoners and their families. The Irish Republican Socialist
Committees of North America (IRSCNA) was founded in 1984 to expand
support for the Irish Republican Socialist Movement in Ireland through
political forums, press releases, and demonstrations.

Is míse le meas,
TJ O Conchúir
IRSCNA CC/PWO,
RSYM Ard Comhairle

*

Campaign Against Water Privatisation

Newsletter No 1: Winter 2005/2006

Hain's triple whammy - redundancies, rates rises, and water charges

When the Government announced it was to postpone the introduction of
water charges some peple hailed it as a sign that the government was
on the back foot. However, this optimistic assessment was punctured by
Secretary of State Peter Hain's keynote speech setting out his vision
for the future. Delivered to a meeting of the Institute of Directors
in Belfast on 21 September it set out a comprehensive programme for
the neo-liberal reform of the local economy.

The basic tenet of Hain's speech was that the economy was
over-dependent on the public sector. He cited the fact that public
spending accounted for over 60 per cent of GDP, nearly a third higher
than in the UK, and that a third of all employment was in the public
sector, compared to the UK average of a fifth.

Following on from this premise, Hain set out a number of strategies on
how a massive reduction in public spending will be achieved. The first
of these is privatisation, with parts of the public sector, and those
who are employed in them, to be handed over to private companies. This
is euphemistically described as giving the "private sector a greater
role in the delivery of public services". In reality, it is the
destruction of public services, and is always associated with a
deterioration in the terms and conditions of the workforce. This
process is already ongoing in with the expansion of Private Finance
Initiatives, particularly in the health and education sectors. Hain's
speech envisaged an acceleration of this with an "ambitious programme
of asset sales" (i.e. privatization).

The second element of element of Hain's programme, and probably the
most far reaching, is the reorganisation of the Governmental
structures, from health and education boards, to local councils. This
is being carried out under the Review of Public Administration. It is
due to put forward its proposals later in the year. These are likely
to include the abolition of boards and councils and the centralisation
of services over larger geographic areas. While this is proposed under
the guise of the phoney populism of cutting bureaucracy and shifting
resources to the frontline, it will actually result in the loss of
services and massive public sector redundancies. We can see that
already happening with the cuts in the education budget. Schools are
losing teachers, special needs assistants and crossing patrols, while
parents now have to pay for what were once "concessionary" services
such and transport and music lessons. In the health sector, rural
hospitals are being stripped of acute services. The recent Appleby
Report on the health service envisages this process of rationalisation
going further. It also proposes the introduction of regional pay for
health workers. The Review of Public Administration will move this
process a step further with the complete closure of many schools and
hospitals.

The third element of the programme for reducing public spending is an
increase in rates and the introduction of service charges. The aim is
to raise the level of the household bill for rates and water closer to
the average in England and Wales, which is about £1,500 a year. The
average rates bill in Northern Ireland is around £600 a year. Key to
this is the introduction of the water charge, which will be around
£400 a year. Hain signalled that, despite the opposition, the
government is determined to introduce this in April 2007. He also
repeated the lie that any surplus raised by the water charge can be
used to fund other public services. The fact is that any money
collected through the water charge will be private money; the newly
created water company will own it. Indeed, the point of setting the
water charge so high is to build up a capital surplus that will
attract investors when the Government owned water company is
eventually privatised.

An effective opposition to this onslaught must be built at the
grassroots level, among trade union members and in working class
communities. It is only a mass campaign that will move politicians and
the Government. It must also be a campaign that has opposition to
privatisation as its foundation. What Hain's speech makes clear is
that this is a general offensive against the public sector, of which
the introduction of water charges is but one part. Therefore the
response must also be generalised. This is why the CAWP has continued
to highlight the importance of privatisation in the anti-water charges
campaign. It is the issue that ties all these various attacks together
and the basis on which they should be opposed. The positive thing
about Hain's speech is that it clearly lays out the intentions of the
Government. It should serve as a shake people out of their
complacency. Hain has thrown down the gauntlet; now is the time for us
to pick it up and meet the challenge.

In October the government announced that water treatment works would
be handed over to a private consortium - Dalriada Water. Despite the
local name, this consortium was composed entirely of international
utility companies. It included the notorious Tyco International. By
coincidence, in the same week of the announcement in the future of
water treatment works, the former chief executive and finance director
of Tyco were being sentences in a New York after being found guilty of
serious fraud charges. During their period with the company they moved
the company's registration to Bermuda, then went on to set up 115
subsidiaries in tax haven countries, including eight in the Bahamas,
17 in Barbados, 55 in Bermuda, and five in the Cayman Islands. Most of
these companies had nothing to do with real business, but were front
companies used in accounting scams to evade taxes and to allow it to
issue false accounting reports that hid bad debts and exaggerated
assets. Stock prices shot up, investors bought, and Tyco executives
made a bundle. In 2002 Tyco chief executive Dennis Kozlowski took home
over $71 million, up $34.7 million raise from the previous year when
the company laid off 11,300 workers. When the truth came out investors
lost their money and Tyco's former top executives were charged with
looting the company of $600 million.

In you were leafing through the jobs sections in the local press in
October you may have noticed a job advert for the Department for
Regional development inviting applications for the post of Chair and 4
Non-Executive Directors to the Board of Water Service. This is
intended to be the new executive board of the Water Service when it is
transformed into a Government Owned Company (GoCo) in April 2005. This
is the body that will be "at heart of the government's reform of the
water industry". So how much time do they need to devote to this
important task. Well the chair will be required to work three days a
month, and the non-executive directors two days a month. For this
sacrifice the chair will receive £40,000 pa, that's about £1100 a day,
while non-executive directors will receive £18,000 pa, a measly £750 a
day. Of course, these figures may be on the conservative side, as they
don't include expenses. Potential applicants for these posts would
certainly agree with the advert that the Water Service is undergoing
"dramatic and exciting change". However, if you are member of the
Water Service workforce facing redundancy or the loss of your pension,
or a member of a household facing a £400 annual bill you may have a
different point of view.

One of the argurments in favour of privistaoistion is that it lowers
prices. However, in England and Wales, where water utilities have been
privatised since 1989, bills have been steadily rising. Under the
latest deal stuck between the water companies and the regulator water
bills are to rise by an average of 13 per cent over the next five
years, from £249 to £282. A large proportion of this increase will be
put on in the first year. Even with such a big rise the water
companies were not satisfied, they had lobbied for twice this rate.

The example of the RVH car park epitomises the abuse associated with
privatisation. Built at a cost of £2m through a private finance
initiative (PFI), the company that runs it has been able to recoup the
cost of its construction after just seven years of a 20-year contract.
In 2002 alone, the car park generated more than £500,000 in profits.
Yet, the hospital has only received a fraction of this money. Under
the PFI contract the company agreed to pay the RVH £25,000 a year for
the use of the land and a further £15,000 a year if profits exceeded
initial forecasts. These terms have resulted in the hospital receiving
less than 5 per cent of the annual profits. Rather than going back
into the health service, this money, extracted from patients, their
families and hospital employees, is being drained away. This is the
reality of private sector "investment" in our public services.

The CAWP was set up in November 2004 by socialist groups to oppose the
introduction of water charges. We are part of the wider anti-water
charges campaign and do not set ourselves in opposition to any other
group. Our primary role is to emphasise the issue of privatisation and
advocate strategies that we believe can successfully oppose it. Over
the past year, our activities have included public meetings, stalls,
postering and film shows. We also had a contingent on the Belfast May
Day parade. A number of campaign committees have been established
across the city. These involve residents organising in their local
area to raise awareness of the consequences of water privatisation,
and to mobilise public opposition against it.

If you agree with us and would like to find more about the CAWP and
its activities, or are interested in setting up a committee in your
area, then contact us at:

Phone: 07720091983
E-mail: cawp@lycos.co.uk
PO Box 40, Belfast, BT11 9DL

*******

WHAT'S ON

*

Thursday, 19 January

A Connolly Forum public meeting entitled Jim Gralton - the Leitrim
Socialist will be held in the Trades Club, Castle Street, Sligo, on
Wednesday, January 19, at 8.30pm. Pat Feeley, the writer and former
RTE radio presenter, will be among the speakers.

*

Thursday, 19 January

James Connolly Debating Society

The James Connolly Debating Society is a forum for republicans and
socialists to meet, discuss and debate the works of some of Ireland's
greatest political thinkers, from the United Irishmen to Connolly and
Pearse, right up to the present.

This second meeting of the society will be taking place in the Felons'
Club, Falls Road, Belfast on Thursday 19th January at 7.30pm

*

Sunday, 26 January

VISIT PALESTINE (80 minutes Film)
Sunday 26th January 7pm Tricycle Cinema, 269 Kilburn High Road, London
NW6

Tickets £8 and £7 - BOX OFFICE Telephone 020 7328 1000

"An astonishing piece of work, a wonderful film...quite unlike
anything I've seen." - John Pilger

What drives a young, well-educated Irishwoman to volunteer as a "peace
activist" in the Middle East? Caiomhe Butterly is one of a growing
number of volunteers who risk their own safety to intervene in the
long-running and bloody conflict between Israel and Palestine. Several
internationals, including her, have now been injured. Some have died.

In this film, she describes witnessing the aftermath of the attack on
Jenin in April 2002. The film follows her work, the main emphasis
being "the accompaniment of communities at risk". Despite being
threatened, shot in the leg and deported later that year, she is
determined to go back. In the interim, she brings her story back to
her native Ireland at public meetings, receives a Time Magazine
"European Hero Award", and travels to post-war Iraq to visit the
Palestinian refugee camps. She arrives back in Jenin, shortly before a
young woman from that community, Hanadi Jaradat, blows herself up in a
suicide bombing in Haifa.

Activists such as Butterly are usually stereotyped as lunatics,
meddlers or saints. This film offers an insight into a brave, honest,
determined yet self-critical woman who takes direct action to the
limit, with no quest for glory. She also serves as a conduit into the
everyday lives of Palestinians, who are also usually presented to the
viewer in a one-dimensional way, as fighters or victims, heroes or
fanatics. The film gives us a rare chance to see what she calls "the
spaces of beauty and joy" created by a people under occupation.

*******

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*

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