The Plough Vol 01 No 26

The Plough #26
13 February 2004

E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1. NIPSA ACTION
2. "Time for Change"
3. THE WATCH COMMITTEE
4. Convention of the Left
5. Loyalism and the Connolly Approach
6. Book Review: "In The Cause Of Labour"
7. New Voting System and Nomination Restrictions Are Undemocratic
8. Trade Unionist Harassment
9. Appeal from the Basque Country
10. Sacked Airport Shop Stewards to Start Hunger Strike
11. What's On?

*******

NIPSA ACTION

As outlined in last week's issue of The Plough, NIPSA, the largest
union in the North, are engaged in an increasingly active campaign of
industrial action over civil service pay.

Civil servants represent over 15% of workers in the six counties, and
also, uniquely, reflect almost exactly the gender and "community"
make up of Northern society.

The basis of the dispute were set forth last week, but basically they
amount to a management offer of a 0% pay rise to junior grades after
management had awarded themselves between 4 and 9%.

RISING MILITANCY

Following very successful isolated days of action, NIPSA decided to
introduce a programme of rolling weekly strikes amongst key sets of
workers (who were supported by their comrades by way of a levy).

The first branch to take such action was Strabane SSO, who engaged in
the action from 23/01/04. The response to the action was remarkable
with all but two staff in the office absenting themselves from work,
and upwards of 60% presenting themselves on the picket line each day.

However, it was the second week of selective action which caused the
current management reaction; during that week the telephone operators
based in, amongst other places, Stormont, refused to take calls. As
management had covered for this eventuality by bringing in Agency
scabs, all workers in civil service offices refused to answer phone
calls. This was not only a justified solidarity action by the workers
involved, but it was also entirely legal, even under the present
draconian employment laws.

In response to this spontaneous show of solidarity the management of
the Department for Social Development (DSD), which includes the
Social Security Agency and the Child Support Agency, began to
threaten workers involved with the arbitrary removal of the Flexible
Working Hours scheme. This scheme, which allows workers to work
their 8 hour day within a 12 hour window, was introduced particularly
to help women who have to juggle domestic responsibilities with home
life.

Upon hearing of this threat, as anyone who watched the television
last week will know, all NIPSA members in central Belfast walked out.
Whilst this was portrayed by both management and their paid liars in
the media as a "wild cat" action, in reality it illustrated the
determination of NIPSA grass roots members neither to be intimidated
themselves, nor to stand idly by whilst this was happening to their
comrades. It was a heartening, and unfortunately too infrequent,
show of class solidarity.

THIS WEEK

As planned the NIPSA action has now spread to meat processing
inspectors, an unlikely area, but one which has been completely solid
and successful. Next week the members in the DVLNI shall observe a
weeks stoppage.

However within the last two days the dispute has re focused on the
DSD. Without provocation, the DSD management have threatened to
suspend, without pay, any union member who abides by the NIPSA
instruction to work to rule (i.e. within the confines of their
contract).

*******

"Time for Change"

NIPSA activists have responded to the union leadership's poor
management of the civil service dispute by mounting a campaign to get
control of the union's ruling General Council. The coalition "Time for
Change" has put up a number of candidates, on a grass roots campaign,
and with a surprisingly tight internal discipline structure.

"Time for Change"includes the best left-wing, anti-bureaucratic,
element of the NIPSA active members. It is an alliance of independent
socialists in concert with members of various progressive political
parties, including the IRSP.

All involved are agreed that the union belongs to their members, and
the current campaign highlights the difference between the enthusiasm
of the membership in the current dispute, and the ultra conservative
and self-seeking bureaucrats who currently run the organisation on
the members' behalf..

It is vitally important that "Time for Change" win this internal
battle, as it shall determine the outcome of this dispute, the
largest in the North since 1932.

For the record the "Time for Change" candidates are:

Carol Barnett
Brian Booth
Brian Crawford
Paul Dale
Brian Forbes
Carmel Gates
Dooley Harte
Gerry Largey
Kevin Lawrenson
Maria Morgan
Janette Murdock
Patrick Mulholland
Ricki Reid
John Toal

The results of the election should be known by next week, and shall
be published in The Plough.

COLIN CRAIG

*******

THE WATCH COMMITTEE

In response to the bullying tactics of the NICS management,
particularly those in the Department for Social Development, a number
of NIPSA members formed a "Watch Committee" on Thursday 12 February.
The purpose of the committee is to "name and shame" those managers
who take disciplinary action against NIPSA members because of their
involvement in the current dispute, in order to alert the working
class to the presence of scabs in their midst.

The Committee intends to issue its first such list on Wednesday 18
February, and weekly thereafter, and have called on all socialist
publications to assist their campaign by publishing the names
involved.

*******

Convention of the Left

For a number of weeks The Plough has carried a statement from the
Socialist Environment Group, based in the North West of the North of
Ireland advertising a convention of the left. It is also carried in
this edition of The Plough.

It is time to spell out the position of the Irish Republican
Socialist Party. But first let us put on record a number of basic
principles that this party adheres to.

The IRSP is anti-sectarian, anti-racist, internationalist, socialist,
republican and anti-imperialist. We believe in the primacy of
politics. We believe that the Good Friday Agreement was a squalid
sectarian deal that was part of a process of pacification of the
wider anti-imperialist tradition in Ireland.

We have called for unity of republican and socialist forces in the
past. We want to see a united front of all of the working classes
standing up against oppression, injustice and poverty wherever it
exists. The unity of progressive forces is obviously desirable. But
we are not in favour of the widest possible unity based on the lowest
common denominator. For as the founder of the IRSP said,

"One of the principal reasons for lack of development of working
class or socialist politics is the existence of partition - the fact
that the British are still within the country. In the minds of most
people this has been the main question in Irish politics for 50
years. The main question which must be resolved is the struggle
against imperialism, so that the workers can think in terms of
confronting the native capitalist class. That is the principal reason
why we want to end imperialist intervention in the country. We want
to see a natural political situation develop, with the confrontation,
which you normally expect, between left and right, and in this way to
bring the Irish working class into control of the resources and the
wealth of the country."

Those clear words from Seamus Costello sums up our position. Any talk
of the unity of the left must be around some core principles. Any
unity behind a candidate who does not bring out the essential
contradictions of the continued existence of the Northern state and
only emphasises bread and butter issues, perhaps spiced up with
opposition to the neo-liberal agenda of globalisation, is a false
unity. We have had efforts like this before. We have had the Northern
Ireland Labour Party which because of its failure to confront
sectarianism and its acceptance of the border imploded. Surely Eamon
McCann, a former candidate for the Northern Ireland Labour Party,
does not want to repeat that experience?

Sinn Fein/The Workers Party ditched their opposition to partition,
and their republicanism, in a futile effort to reach out to the mass
of Protestant working-class people. They failed utterly. We could go
on.

However we ourselves are not above criticism and have made wrong
turns in the past. Those who fail to learn from mistakes are doomed
to repeat them. Is a convention of the left really the best way to
reach agreement? We have seen no agenda, no standing orders, no
policies. We fear the convention will be a chance for infantile
leftist slanging. Let's hope we are wrong.

*******

Loyalism and the Connolly Approach

Costello drew on both the experience and teachings of James Connolly
in his approach to the problem of "loyalism" among the Belfast
Protestant working class. When questioned in March 1975, about co-
operation with representatives of the Protestant workers on immediate
issues "which would appear to unite the people," he defined his
position clearly and succinctly. "Connolly had to face exactly the
same predicament. In Belfast prior to 1916, you had people who
classified themselves as socialists and who were also interested in
ending British rule in Ireland. Their approach to the Protestant
working class was on the basis of limited and immediate issues. One
of the principal issues which affected both sections of the working
class was the question of whether or not they could get gas and water
into their houses. Some very militant campaigns were engaged in on
these two demands - gas and water for the houses in the working class
districts. Republicans and socialists were involved in this campaign
on the basis that this was the way to unite the working class. At the
same time, these republicans and socialists refused point blank to
mention or even discuss the national question with the Protestant
working class, on the grounds that if they did, the Protestant
working class wouldn't listen to them and that they would lose their
co operation on the issue of gas and water for the houses. Connolly
was totally in opposition to this approach. He categorized them as
gas and water socialists. Today in Belfast we have what we call ring-
road socialists. They are exactly the same type of people. They are,
in fact, the leadership of the Official republican movement in
Belfast. We maintain that any co-operation with the Protestant
working class must be on the basis of a principled political
position. It must be on the basis of explaining fully to the
Protestant working class what all our policies are, not just our
policy on the ring-road. We must try and politicize them,
simultaneously with conducting a political campaign to get rid of
Britain. It will be primarily an educational function, or an
educational campaign directed towards Protestants in the hope at
least that some significant section of the Protestant working
class will understand."

*******

IN THE CAUSE OF LABOUR: A HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TRADE UNIONS

By Rob Sewell
Published by Wellred Books

REVIEWED BY PETER BLACK

"Were history what it ought to be, an accurate literary reflex of
the times with which it professes to deal", wrote James Connolly, the
great Irish trade union leader and Marxist, "the pages of history
would be almost entirely engrossed with a recital of the wrongs and
struggles of the labouring people, constituting, as they have ever
done, the vast mass of mankind."

But official history treats the working class with contempt,
derision, hatred and misrepresentation whenever it "dares to throw
off the yoke of political or social servitude".

There are many narrative histories of the struggles of Irish and
British workers. However Rob Sewell's book is different. The
purpose of his history is not only to recite the wrongs inflicted on
working people, or simply to describe their heroic struggles. It is
an attempt to draw out the lessons of the events that helped shape
the Labour movement, and made it what it is.

This history of trade unions is particularly relevant at the present
time. After a long period of stagnation, the fresh winds of the class
struggle are beginning to blow. We see growing industrial militancy
in many countries, which heralds a fundamental change in the
situation. Here and in Britain there is ferment in the trade unions,
characterised by a sharp turn to the left in one union conference
after another. New forces are emerging in the trade union and Labour
movement, and are beginning to challenge the dead hand of the old
leadership.

Rob Sewell's book was written clearly with these new forces in
mind. The British labour movement is the oldest in the world. More
than two hundred years ago, the pioneers of the movement created
illegal revolutionary trade unions in the face of the most terrible
violence and repression. A little later they established the first
workers' party in history, the Chartist Association. Later they
participated in the founding of the First International, in which
Karl Marx played a leading role. The Irish provided many leaders in
these early struggles, such as John Doherty and Feargus O’Connor.

In the course of the nineteenth century they built trade unions of
the downtrodden unskilled workers "those with "blistered hands
and the unshorn chins," as Feargus O'Connor called them. Finally,
the working class established a mass party of Labour based on the
trade unions, breaking the monopoly of the Tories and Liberals. The
book deals with the heroic Belfast strike and Dublin lockout led by
Larkin and Connolly, as well as the stormy years following the
Russian Revolution when they engaged in ferocious class battles,
culminating in the General Strike of 1926.

Nor did the achievements of the British trade union movement cease
with the Depression and the Second World War. The post-war upswing
served to strengthen the working class and heal the scars of the
inter-war period. By the time of the industrial tidal wave of the
early 1970s, they drove a Tory government from power, after turning
Edward Heath's anti-trade union laws into a dead letter. Those
years saw the demonstrations against the Industrial Relations Act
- the biggest workers' protests since the days of the Chartists.

Later, the miners, the traditional vanguard of the British working
class, waged an epic year-long struggle in 1984-85 against the
juggernaut of Thatcherism. (This brings a clear memory of the
solidarity for the miners, when I was for a time seconded to their
support group) They could have succeeded, had the right-wing Labour
and trade union leaders not abandoned them and left them isolated.
But though it was defeated the miners' strike, which at times had the
hallmarks of a semi-insurrection, showed the world the colossal
potential that exists in the British working class. It would require
a book to deal with the lessons of this strike alone, but Rob Sewell
has done it justice.

The foreword is written by Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the
National Union of Journalists and member of the General Council of
the TUC (personal capacity).

Price: £14.99 (special price for readers of Starry Plough of
£10 plus £2.50 p&p)
480 pages, illustrated
ISBN: 1 9000 07 14 2

Order your copy from Wellred Books, PO Box 2626, London N1 7SQ.
Or buy on-line at http://www.marxist.com/wellred/

(Peter Black is a leading member of the ATGWU, Iónadái, and
IRSP Ard-Chomhairle)

*******

New Voting System and Nomination Restrictions Are Undemocratic

Des Dalton, Vice President Republican Sinn Féin
February 5, 2004

"The introduction of electronic voting coupled with new
restrictions for independent candidates have placed serious question
marks over the electoral process in the 26 Counties. The new
electronic voting system, which is to be extended to all
constituencies in the 26 Counties for the forthcoming Local and
European elections has two fundamental flaws. In forcing a person who
wishes to 'spoil' their vote, to inform the returning officer,
violates the right to a secret ballot as well as denying people a
legitimate means of registering protest. Secondly, the system lacks
any transparency. It gives people no paper record that their vote was
cast as they intended, such a record could be kept and checked in the
case of a challenge. This is to ignore the serious concerns of the
international computer science community who are calling for the
introduction of a voter verified audit trail."

"On top of the introduction of electronic voting, new restrictions
have been imposed for Independent or Community candidates who wish to
contest the local elections under new nomination procedures which
require independent or on - registered candidates to be nominated by
15 people on the live register. This discriminates against people who
are not members of one of the major parties. These parties thereby
are being handed an advantage in that their candidates do not have to
take what amounts to a test, in order to contest the local elections.
Such restrictions are undemocratic, denying people who simply wish to
serve their communities, their right to participate in the electoral
process regardless of party affiliation."

*******

Trade Unionist Harassment

Paddy Kenneally, Munster Republican Sinn Féin
February 10, 2004

A trade union official in County Clare has publicly criticised the
activities of the Special Branch police for harassing people engaged
in legitimate union activity.

Paddy Kenneally from Crusheen, the secretary of the Clare Plasterers
Union, said today that he has personal experience of the increasing
level of police interference with trade union organising.

"On Monday afternoon in Shannon Airport I was pulled over by a car
with a blue flashing light and questioned by the Special Branch. That
morning along with the vice-chairman of the branch I had been
visiting local building sites in the interests of union members.
Obviously some builders have links with the police who threatened me
with arrest before going through my union briefcase and my trade
union papers.

"This type of harassment and intimidation by the police has no
place in a democratic society. In fact it is an attack on a trade
union and on the rights of workers to organise in their own
interests - a right recognised internationally and enshrined in
legislation.

"I feel that the fact I am also chairman of the Munster Executive
of Republican Sinn Féin is another reason why I am subject to this
type of harassment by the police. "

*******

Appeal from the Basque Country

Demonstration against torture in the Basque Country.

In the following text you can find the manifesto of the demonstration
against torture which is taking place in Donostia-San Sebastian on
the14th of February, "25 years on torture, enough is enough".

Please support this demonstration, which you can show by emailing us
at askida@stoptortura.com. As well we would welcome your friends and
contacts support if it is possible.

25 years of torture, enough is enough!

25 years since the Spanish Constitution was passed. 25 years during
which continuity has been shored up, a continuity that seeks to make
itself permanent over time. 25 years in order to certify that the
torture that existed in the Francoist dungeons has now been made
over, refined, perfected by a system that in essence is just more of
the same. 25 years of dirty war, brutality and denial against the
Basque Country.

Pacts were ratified, agreements were signed, shock and disbelief were
protested... The transition was complete, the mistakes amended, the
security establishment had been, finally, purged. The referendum. A
categorical "yes" in Spain. A definite "no" in the Basque Country.

Because we knew that the problem had not been solved. Because we were
aware that the jails would soon fill again and that the torture
complaints made by men and women from those provinces formerly deemed
to be traitors would amount to hundreds.

The pain and broken souls of Basques are still in piles of court
complaints, declarations, reams of paper lying under the dust on the
tables of the new Spanish courts. In November 1979, the Home Office
secretary of the time, Ibañez Freire, who was already operating
under the brand-new constitutional text, solemnly declared that the
torture claims were false.

From then on, the Spanish government and its regional branches
continue stubbornly in the same position. They have attempted to
cover up the stench, the festering in their system, with courts like
the Audiencia Nacional, with constitutional anti-terrorist laws, with
opaque spaces to allow beastly interrogation, or with shiny police
procedure protocols. Human Rights campaigns have been prepared while
the screams continued to issue from their dungeons. And Basque
society stands before this scenery. A lonely hand attempting to lift
the lid of the rubbish bin. A lonely pair of eyes trying to peek at
what is in there. A sorry heart that recognises its loved ones under
torment and brutality. A single mind that has learned to understand
the true message behind the official campaigns, behind the official
versions. A single voice, in the end, amplifying a unanimous cry. A
single body that will march through the streets of Donostia on
February 14. The Basque Country must raise that single voice so that,
once and for all, no more Basques cry in the solitude of torment. We
need all of you in Donostia on February 14, 2004.

(From: ASKIDA )

*******

Press Release

13.02.04

Sacked airport shop stewards to start hunger strike

"We want the T&GWU to agree an immediate inquiry into the role played
by our union officials at the time we were sacked. We will not come
off our hunger strike until we get it" Gordon McNeill

Two of the three airport shop stewards, who were sacked from Belfast
International Airport for taking strike action over pay, have decided
to start a hunger strike.

They are demanding that the T&GWU Executive agree to set up an
Inquiry, made up of rank and file members of the union, to uncover
the truth about the role played by their union official, Joe
McCusker, and other officials, at the time of their dismissal.

Gordon McNeill today commented:

"Madan Gupta and I have very reluctantly, and with heavy hearts,
taken this decision because we can see no other way of bringing this
long dispute to a resolution. All the sacked workers are totally
frustrated at the way in which an officer in the union and other
officers have treated us.

"The issue has dragged on for nearly two years and has taken a big
toll on us, badly affecting our health. Madan and I are determined to
bring it to a head now. We want an Inquiry but we want it to be made
up of rank and file members who will be prepared to look at what
happened in a truthful and independent way.

"It clearly states in the union code of practice that, where a shop
steward is dismissed, an immediate inquiry will be set up to
investigate. That's all we are asking for but we have been forced
to take this drastic action because, up to now, this right has been
denied us.

"In May 2002 our union official, Joe McCusker, called us out on
official strike. Then, when we were on strike, he told our employer
that he had repudiated our action and the company then used this as
their excuse to sack us. We have now found out that a week earlier he
had given the company an assurance that there would be no strike.

"We want to know why this happened. Were we set up? What links, if
any, existed between our official and our employer, ICTS? We have
been asking these question for nearly two years and have not been
given answers. That is why we need an inquiry.

We want Joe McCusker to sign an affidavit clarifying that he told us
that our strike was both legal and official. To date all the promises
that he would do so have been broken. We want to know why.

"Going on hunger strike might seem to many a desperate step to take
in order to get the union to take the very simple step of setting up
an inquiry. But we have been driven to this, we have been slandered,
vilified and threatened to the point that we feel our lives have been
ruined, and we want to get to the truth in order to clear our names.

The real question is why it takes such drastic action to get the
T&GWU leadership to concede an inquiry. We are asking union members
to support our action by putting this question directly to our
General Secretary, Tony Woodley"

Madan Gupta and Gordon McNeill will begin their hunger strike on
Monday 16th February inside Transport House Belfast.

Gordon McNeill can be contacted on 07719574338

Tony Woodley's mobile no is 07976828950

He may also be contacted at Transport House in London -
Tel: 02076112500

*******

What's On?

*

Convention of the Left - Derry February 14th 2004

Invitation
Socialist Environmental Alliance
Convention of the Left
Saturday February 14th
11-4pm
Verbal Arts Centre, Derry

We are writing to invite you to a Convention of the Left to be held
in Derry on February 14th 2004. The purpose is to discuss a united
Left slate in the June 2004 European election. The SEA sees it as an
imperative that there should be a left alternative in the field in
June. If no one else is willing to come along with us we are minded
to go forward on our own. In that circumstance, Eamonn McCann is
willing to stand. However, we realise that a broad alliance covering
the North would be hugely preferable. We are very open to argument
from others as to how best we can jointly achieve this.

We envisage an electoral alliance of different parties, campaigning
groups and individuals offering voters a radical, anti-sectarian
alternative to parties based on one or other of "the two
communities." The results of the SEA interventions in Foyle and East
Londonderry by Eamonn McCann and Marion Baur make plain that a
credible, united left campaign can attract a level of support, which
cannot be derided or ignored. Without such an intervention, the
European election, for practical purposes, will amount to yet another
referendum" to determine who will champion each community vis-a-vis
the other. It will take a united, broadly based campaign to make a
Left intervention credible.

The issues bringing together socialists, environmentalists, defenders
of the public sector, anti-racists, women's rights campaigners and
anti-war groups in other countries affect us here too. Millions of
Europeans rallied to these issues in 2003, particularly in anti-war
demonstrations on February 15th. Our Convention marks the first
anniversary of those huge protests - which saw one of the biggest
ever marches in Belfast that did not reflect sectarian divisions.
We must break out of the circular argument, which holds that Northern
Ireland is so polarised along communal lines that there's no point
trying seriously to challenge its communal politics. A June campaign
would offer a chance to link day-to-day local concerns to major
issues being fought out at European level. Issues of water charges
and environmental protection cannot be understood other than in a
European perspective. The rise in racism on our streets is connected
to the "Fortress Europe" project. Local civil rights issues now arise
in parallel with the crackdown across Europe associated with the "war
on terror." Privatisation schemes in our schools and hospitals are
entangled with European directives on freeing market forces.

It is only in the context of the fight for a social Europe and
against a neo-liberal Europe that we can pursue these issues in
Northern Ireland. The notion that a better Northern Ireland and a
better Ireland is possible is an element in the broader notion that
another Europe is possible. As to when and by whom a serious
political effort is to be made to bring this about---if not now,
when? If not us, who?

The Convention will be held at the Verbal Arts Centre, located on the
City Walls at Bishop Street, Derry. A crèche will be provided. A
more detailed Agenda will be issued shortly.

Marion Baur and Eamonn McCann
(SEA candidates in the Assembly Elections)
http://www.seaderry.co.uk/

*

TALKING AND TAKING PART

This course, hosted by Women into Politics (WiP), is responding to an
identified need and an interest expressed for women to meet, learn
and work with and from each other - beyond Northern Irish/Irish
borders. The programme is aiming for a 50/50 participation of women
from minority ethnic communities and the majority communities. It
will provide the opportunity for every participant to learn about
different cultures and to engage in discussion with women from a wide
range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. No earlier training
required. However, openness and an interest in each other's
culture and experience are necessary. The facilitators for the
programme are Felice Kiel from the Northern Ireland Council for
Ethnic Minorities and Catherine McCartney from Women into Politics.
The course will start on Monday, 23 February 2004, from 10.00am to
12.30pm and will run for ten consecutive mornings at WiP's premises,
109-113 Royal Avenue, Belfast.

WiP will subsidise travel expenses and will provide childcare if
needed. The deadline for registration is 13 February 2004 and places
will be confirmed on 16 February 2004.

If you require any further information, please ring Catherine on tel:
028 9024 3363, mobile: 0774 311 8502 or email:
admin@womenintopolitics.org.

*

Thursday February 19th Public Meetings

Dr Stephen Cleghorn: US Military Families Against the War Speak
Out

1.30pm: Peter Froggatt Centre, Queens University
7.30pm: Unemployed Resource Centre (next to John Hewitt bar –
Donegal Street, Belfast)

*

THE IRISH ASSOCIATION

FOR CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RELATIONS

President: Mr. Paul McErlean; Vice-President: Dr. Jean Whyte

SPRING SEMINAR

Policing the island: challenges, issues and co-operation.

Speakers
Hugh Orde, Chief Constable, P.S.N.I.,
Noel Conroy, Commissioner, of An Garda Siochana
Chairman - Paul McErlean, President Irish Association

Saturday 21 February, 2004, 10.30 -12.30
Holiday Express Inn, University Street, Belfast

All Welcome
Members - £2.00, Non-Members - £4.00
http://www.irish-association.org/

*

Friday March 12th

Protest Against Anti-War Activists Arrests
4pm City Courthouse

Public Meeting: The War, Occupation and Resistance
7.30pm Grosvenor House (Glengall St. next to Europa Hotel) Special
Guest speaker Ex-Labour MP (now RESPECT coalition) George Galloway

Panel includes Eamonn McCann - Journalist - Carmel Gates -
President NIPSA - Jamal Iweida - Belfast Islamic Centre - Anti-Racism
Network speaker to be requested

*

Charlie Donnelly Winter School

The Second Annual Charlie Donnelly Winter School will explore the
legacy of Charlie Donnelly, Dungannon's soldier poet, whose
phrase 'even the olives are bleeding' remains one of the most
powerful evocations of the Spanish Civil War.

The school encompasses conflict and conflict resolution within the
fields of art and literature and will include discussions, political
panel debate and poetry workshop. The school features readings from
the works of Charlie Donnelly.

The Return of the Earls is the vision for the next four-year term of
the Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council. Within this theme the
Council will incorporate the overarching principle of reconciliation
across a wide diversity of interests.

For more information or to book a place, contact Emma Cox, Marketing
and Events Officer, on tel: 028 8772 0342, email:
emma.cox@dungannon.gov.uk, web: http://www.returnoftheearls.com/

Please reserve your place(s) before 20 February 2004.

*

Saturday March 20th

International Day of Action Against the Occupation of Iraq and
Palestine Rally

2pm Arts College, Belfast

For more information 07742 531 617 - 07748571269

*******

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"The Starry Plough/An Camchéachta"
P.O. Box 1981, Derry, BT48 8GX, Ireland.
THE VOICE OF REPUBLICAN SOCIALISM!
Email: starry_plough@hotmail.com
Website: http://www.irsm.org/irsp/starryplough/

Fighting Fund/Donations
To: The Starry Plough
First Trust Bank, Derry, BT48 6BU
Account No. 14986015 Sort Code No. 93-86-10

http://www.irsm.org/irsm.html (Pairtí Poblachtach Sóisialach na
h-Éireann)
http://www.wageslave.org/jcs/ (James Connolly Society)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/ (James Connolly Archive)

The new Republican Socialist Forum from Derry IRSP:
http://rsmforum.proboards23.com/

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A new 2004 full colour glossy calendar is available now on the RSM
online shop.

It celebrates the brilliant work undertaken by the Teach Na Failte
Memorial Committees this past year throughout the six counties with
full colour photographs on each page.

Just in time for Christmas and the New Year this calendar can be
viewed online by clicking the link below

http://www.cafeshops.com/rsmshop.8844526

Republican Socialist Online Merchandise - New Website

A new website that offers a central place to go on the Internet to
find good quality items with a distinct Republican Socialist theme.
Proceeds from sales from this effort go towards the IRSM and it's
various projects.

http://www.angelfire.com/folk/irishshop/