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!

*******

Back copies of The Plough can be accessed at:
http://www.irsm.org/irsp/plough/.

New web site to view about North Belfast go to:
http://radicalnorthbelfast.piczo.com/.

Please feel free to comment on the contents of The Plough. We welcome
political comments and criticisms.

If you would prefer to receive The Plough as an attachment please
e-mail with heading "add attachment".

If you know of anybody who might wish to receive The Plough please
send his or her e-mail address to johnmartinps@eircom.net.

If you wish to receive back copies of the The Plough please e-mail
to johnmartinps@eircom.net stating which numbers you wish.

To unsubscribe to The Plough please send e-mail
entitled "unsubscribe" to johnmartinps@eircom.net.

It is the policy of The Plough to acknowledge information and
articles from other sources.

Subscribe to the bi-monthly
"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 Republican Socialist Forum from Derry IRSP
http://rsmforum.proboards23.com/

Republican Socialist Online Merchandise - A website that offers a
central place to go on the Internet to find good quality items with a
distinct Republican Socialist theme. Proceeds from sales from this
effort go towards the IRSM and its various projects.
http://www.angelfire.com/folk/irishshop/

*

Support the IRSP

Standing Order Form

To the Manager First Trust Bank, Andersonstown.

Please pay First Trust Bank Andersonstown Branch, Belfast, and credit
to Irish Republican Socialist Party, A/C Number 70490021, Branch Code
93-84-75

The sum of:
Amount in words:

Commencing date: and thereafter every month till further notice.

And debiting A/C number:

Name (Please print clearly):
Date:

Address:


Signature: