The Plough #35
18 April 2004
E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1) Editorial
2) FROM THE ARCHIVES: "IN THE 70s - THE IRA SPEAKS"
3) Free the Jailed Activists of the DHKP-C and Anti-Imperialist Camp
4) Letters
5) What's On?
*******
Editorial
This coming week sees the publication of the International Monitoring
body's report into alleged breaches of ceasefires. When the peace
process began the IRSP said that no republican should trust the
British. We have been proved right over the years. Provisional Sinn
Fein have learnt to their cost that putting their trust in the words
of British Ministers is a road to disaster. One of the members of the
IMC is a former second in command of the CIA. He has the audacity to
sit in judgement on violence in Ireland when he has justified
imperialist violence world wide. The Republican Socialist Movement
has had no contact with the International Monitoring Commission.
Regardless of its report that will continue to be our position.
By way of contrast with the current state of Republican Politics we
thought it timely to re-print from the archives "IN THE 70s - THE IRA
SPEAKS." This is the position of the Official IRA as opposed to the
Provisional IRA. When the leadership of the OIRA began to move away
from the positions within this document republican socialists broke
away and formed the Republican Socialist Movement.
*******
FROM THE ARCHIVES
"IN THE 70s - THE IRA SPEAKS"
(Official Sinn Fein, Dublin: Repsol Pamphlet Number 3, 1972)
INTRODUCTION
"The I.R.A. in the 70s" was first published in January 1970 in answer
to a request by the United Irishman to the Irish Republican Publicity
Bureau. The statement was issued over the name of J.J McGarritty,
Secretary of the Bureau. It is one of the most comprehensive
statements released over the past decade on the aims, objectives and
methods of the Irish Republican Army.
The statement spans two decades, ranging over the history of the
I.R.A. for the past ten years, since 1962 in particular, and giving
indications of what the policies of the I.R.A. will be in the ten
years just beginning. The Republican Movement as a whole against
British Imperialism discusses the history and future of the I.R.A.,
within the context of the struggle, both North and South.
The struggle is described under three main headings: Economic,
Political and Military resistance to Imperialism. The relationship
between the three aspects of the struggle is also explained. Military
action undertaken in recent years - such as in the E.I. dispute at
Shannon, the action taken to defend fishery resources off Co. Galway
in 1968, attacks on foreign-owned ranches in Meath, and such recent
actions as that undertaken on behalf of striking workers in Mogul
Mines, Silvermines, Co. Tipperary - is put into perspective against
the political background which made them necessary. The statement
should go a long way towards helping the public judge the I.R.A. for
what it is. To many people, the I.R.A. in general suggests gun-toting
youths, fanaticism and misguided old men living in the past. They
rarely get an opportunity of putting their ideas across to the
public, now, the Educational Department of the Republican Movement is
publishing "The I.R.A. in the 70s" as No. 3 of a series of pamphlets
being published on behalf of the Revolutionary Movement in an attempt
to inform the Irish people of what the role of the Irish Republican
Army is, as seen by the Army Council of the I.R.A.
1) THE I.R.A. IN THE 70s
In February '62 the IRA ended its most recent Campaign of Resistance
to British military occupation of Ireland. From the military point of
view the campaign was well conceived, well organised and capably
executed. There was a high level of training, discipline and morale
among the volunteers, and their equipment was reasonably good. Never
the less they did not succeed in their objective. Why?
As soon as the campaign ended the questioning, examination and
assessment began. It was not confined to the 1956 Campaign but
covered the role of the Republican Movement since 1916. One thing was
evident. The Irish Republican army had come remote from the people.
The people respected the stand, which they were taking, and indeed
they cheered them on from the sidelines. But they were spectators and
not participants in the Republican struggle against British
Imperialism.
It's agreed that the major miscalculations of the past were political
rather than military. War is an extension of politics end must be
logically seen by the people as such. The following major weaknesses
were seen by the Army Council:
1. The Army had no solid political base amongst the people.
2. It had no clear-cut ideology, which could define to the people
what the struggle was all about.
3. The Army had concentrated its attacks on the British Military
Occupation of the 6 Counties to the exclusion of direct assaults on:
a) The British Political Administration in the 6 Counties~ b ) The
British Economic and Cultural penetration of both the 6 and 26
Counties.
4. Free Statism had been left free of military, political and
economic assaults and was merely attacked for its failure to take the
6 Counties and for its coercion of Republicans.
Free Statism is now a clearly defined pseudo-Nationalist I Catholic I
Capitalist philosophy rooted in Griffith and De Valera and happy in
its British designed geographical area.
FUTURE STRATEGY:
By 1963 the strategy of the future had taken shape. It was decided,
not to organize for a campaign in the six counties against the
British Occupation Forces, but to organize for a revolution in the
whole country against all the forces of British Imperialism and
native Gombeenism. Our objective was to be the Re-Conquest of
Ireland, not simply to place an Irish Government in political control
of the geographical entity of Ireland but to place the mass of the
people in actual control of the wealth and resources of the Irish
Nation and to give them a cultural identity.
Our methods were to be:
Economic and Cultural resistance by the people, to British
imperialist penetration, exploitation and to the enslavement by the
gombeen men. Political Action by the people to defend their rights,
to achieve specific objectives or simply to demonstrate their
strength and power. Military Action to back up the peoples' demands,
to defend the peoples gains and eventually to carry through a
successful national liberation struggle. No time was lost in
preparing policy documents, drawing up education programmes and
generally adapting the whole Republican Movement for the new type of
campaign ahead. Even while this was being done the activists within
the Army were already enthusiastically engaged in the first phase of
organising economic resistance.
ECONOMIC RESISTANCE
The activities resulting from this strategic decision slowly but
surely showed results. The deep freeze, which seemed to grip so many
areas of political life began to thaw in particular the more vital
areas close to the living and working conditions of people. The
example and assistance given in the foundation of Tenants'
Associations gave working class people a powerful organisation in a
sphere, which was completely at the mercy of TDs and Councillors. The
patronage system was now being gradually broken down. Citizen Advice
Bureaux sprung up in many areas and they soon became the powerhouse
of most agitationary activity. The most exploited and oppressed found
their way to the Sinn Fein Citizen Advice Bureaux and from them
Housing Action groups were set up in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Derry,
Belfast, Dun Laoghaire and Bray.
The Republican Trade Union Group was formed to educate Republicans in
the need for Trade Union involvement aimed at making Trade unionists
more conscious and militant. Assistance was given to unofficial
strikers who had a just cause but a weak and compromising Trade Union
leadership. Bord na Mona strikers, I.I.A., Arigna coal workers
enslaved by Leydens and various smaller groups were given assistance
and encouragement. E.I. provides an example of successful militant
action backing up the 1913 established principle of a right to form a
Trade Union then under attack by the American company at Shannon.
Credit Unions have grown throughout the country with the co-operation
and help of Republicans who see in the Credit Union Movement a means
of teaching people something of the mystery of high finance and
making them independent of banks and H.P. Companies. They also see
Credit Unions as the beginning of the Co-operative Banking system,
which could smash the power of the Commercial Banks.
LAND LEAGUE
In rural areas support for the Cooperative Movement allied to
political action for Government aid was seen as one solution to the
problem of the small farmer. As the decade progressed and the
Government made friendly noises without giving any real assistance,
the attitudes of the hard-pressed farmers hardened.
Land Leagues that have latterly sprung up with the active
encouragement of the Republican Movement have solved the problem of
providing an organisation at the level of Ireland's small farmers and
should ultimately give them a voice independent of the big-farmer
dominated N.F.A. Government apathy to the plight of the small farmer
became official policy with the publication of the Third Programme
condemning 36,000 to leave the land by 1972.
Land buying by foreigners had become rampant. Land prices soared.
Small uneconomic farm-holders despaired. Militant action was again
called for. A short sharp campaign against foreign owned farms
brought land prices back to normal and effected more permanent relief
on this score than a decade of Government legislation.
More recent successes for the policy of Economic Resistance includes
that of the "National Waters Restoration League" in its demand for
repossession and public ownership of inland waters: a single season
of 'fish-ins' forced a reluctant Government to establish a Commission
to inquire into the matter. A paralleled agitation will be that to
have Ground Rent abolished in urban areas. Both of these agitations
involve the aftereffects of Conquest and both involve the principle,
which carried the Land League to victory in the 1890s. Neither can be
won without a well-organised struggle against the forces of vested
interest, which the political structure of the Dail and legislature
supports.
But apart altogether from individual successes in the course of these
campaigns the greatest success has been the change in attitude of
people. In the past dissatisfaction and complaints about injustice
was channeled through local TDs and Councillors who succeeded in
averting trouble with promises of action. There was a feeling of
hopelessness and apathy and a lack of the will to resist.
Now injustice is a challenge and dissatisfaction is a call to action.
The people have seen their own power and are no longer going to be
pushed around. The once powerful local politician is now beng defied
even by those whose jobs he holds in the palm of his hand.
The first lesson had been learned - ORGANISE and RESIST.
POLITICAL ACTION
Campaigns were carried out with varied degrees of success on a number
of political issues, in most of which Republicans were associated
with other groups who agreed with the objective. The most notable of
these were:
Opposition to the E.E.C.
The Defence of the Nation League.
Opposition to the Free Trade Agreement.
Campaign against the Criminal Justice Bill.
Support for Citizens for Civil Liberties.
Civil Rights Campaign in the North.
Our support for N.I.C.R.A.
The fight for the rights of the people of the Gaeltacht.
Our support for the Coisde Cearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta.
Arising out of these struggles many felt the need to take the
political fight a stage further and felt frustrated as they saw
political opportunists climbing on their backs. As 1969 closed, this
problem was tackled in order to make the fullest use of whatever
opportunities arose. A democratically elected Army Convention decided
by a large majority to remove all restrictions on the leadership in
regard to electoral policy so that they could use the tactics best
suited to the occasion to smash the power of the establishment, North
and South.
Whether Republicans contest elections and take seats in any of the
three parliaments governing this country or whether they continue
their policy of nonparticipation, there is no question of ever giving
recognition to the legitimacy of the authority of these parliaments.
The Westminster Parliament has no shred of authority, and never had,
to legislate for any part of this country. The Stormont and Leinster
House Parliaments are both puppets of Westminster set up by Act of
the Westminster parliament and not by the will of the Irish people,
North or South. Both these parliaments protect the British Imperial
interest and the interests of the Tory Ascendancy class, the Castle
Catholics, the horse Protestants and the native gombeen men.
It is our task to subvert the authority of all three parliaments and
to establish the authority of the common people in a united socialist
republic in which the brotherhood of man will make religious
differences irrelevant. Much revolutionary effort has been put into
the various campaigns of Economic Resistance and Political Action and
certain limited successes have been achieved. Thus far, however, each
activity has been carried out in isolation and those engaged in them
do not see themselves as part of a national revolutionary struggle.
Our first tasks for the seventies must he to knit them all together
so that all radical groups within the nation can work as one and
fight as one for the Re-Conquest of Ireland.
MILITARY ACTION
Those who think that political means alone are sufficient for the
Re-Conquest Of Ireland are closing their minds to the lessons of
history, not alone in Ireland but in every other country struggling
for national liberation.
If freedom can be won without violence then by all means let us win
it that way, but, let us not allow victory to be snatched from us by
those who will have no scruples about the use of violence when they
see power and wealth and privilege slipping from their grasp.
Only an armed, determined people will be listened to with respect.
While Britain claims the right to legislate for Ireland and upholds
that claim by armed force then Irishmen must he trained and ready to
resist her claim by armed force. The I.R.A. in the 70's, with its new
political consciousness, remains an army, trained, disciplined and
determined. But it is now a revolutionary army, an army of the
people, capable of developing and exploiting a revolutionary
situation for the benefit of the people, knowing when to fight and
when to melt away. It is no longer an army of militarists rigid and
inflexible, and geared only for a military campaign against British
Forces in Ireland. It has learned the bitter lessons of such
campaigns. An elitist force, divorced from the struggles of the
people, but calling on the people to support it, can never win. Each
such campaign ended in total defeat and at the end of each campaign
Ireland was less of a nation than before. We can no longer afford
such defeats. To he victorious a struggle for freedom must he a
struggle of the people. The role of the I.R.A. is to assist the
people in what is THEIR liberation struggle.
This concept of a people's campaign for the Re-Conquest of their
country rather than an armed campaign against British Occupation
Forces is the key to the fundamental difference between the I.R.A.
and other elements. It can be clearly seen in the streets of Belfast
where the I.R.A. help the people to organise the successful defence
of their own areas while other elements clear the people off the
streets with ineffective gunfire against British armour.
Now the gulf is again being widened by the sectarian activities of
those who wished to turn the Irish Republican Army into a purely
Catholic Defence Force. The task of the Irish Republican Army is to
defend the common people against physical attack from the forces of
the establishment and against economic exploitation by the forces of
capitalism and British Imperialism in both the North and South of our
country.
To prejudice Protestants against the Republican Movement it has been
emphasized that the majority of the Irish Republican Army and the
mass of republicans are mainly Catholic, and than non-Catholic
religious beliefs would not be respected in a free Ireland. It is
quite true that Republicans are now mainly Catholic simply because
the dissenters have been prevented by constant indoctrination from
embracing republicanism which should be their natural political
philosophy. But in Southern Ireland the same political and economic
interests and voices which tell Protestants that Republicans are
Catholics, tell the Catholic population of the South that Republicans
are anti-God fanatics and yearning for an opportunity to make war on
the religion to which the majority of Irish people belong. The fact
is republicans are quite unaware of religious distinctions within,
the Republican Movement. Catholic would guarantee Protestant,
Protestant would guarantee Catholic, and both would guarantee to all
Dissenters full freedom of conscience and Civil and Religious
liberty. Our history as a revolutionary movement demonstrates that in
a United and Independent Ireland This is the truth of the matter and
just now when Imperial interests are attempting to conceal themselves
behind the mad fury of religious strife, Protestant workers and all
others should combine to make certain that no such escape is provided
them.
In the process of exploitation of workers and small producers,
religion matters little to the exploiters. Orange and Republican,
Catholic and Protestant toil side by side in factory and mill, all
equally victims. Those who thus exploit mercilessly the workers'
labour and energies would let them at one another's throats, because
it is to their advantage to divide them and lead them into conflict
by arousing irrelevant religious issues and inflaming passions. In
this way they can split the organisations of the workers and render
them ineffective.
Protestant and Catholic can be found queuing shoulder to shoulder at
the unemployment bureaux waiting for the "dole". In that fast growing
queue religion or membership of the Orange Order will count for as
little as Catholicism does to the unemployed and emigrating Catholics
in the South. Nothing could be more contrary to the revolutionary
strategy of the Republican Movement than the indiscriminate bombing
and burning campaign of certain elements. It is completely sectarian
in that all targets are Protestant owned and seems designed
specifically to alienate the Protestant people from the struggle for
justice of their Catholic fellow citizens. It is anti-social in that
a number of targets are co-operative shops or stores and is thus
designed to alienate workers.
It is totally irrelevant to the peoples' struggle as the targets for
attack are neither Military, Government or Capitalist and seem to
follow no pattern or policy beyond sustaining a campaign of sorts. To
the militarist, sustaining a struggle becomes more important than
achieving victory and it is apparent that there are sinister elements
at work, which are leading some sincere people by the military ruse
to utter defeat. The Republican policy in the 26 Counties even more
clearly emphasises the new revolutionary strategy of the '7O's. The
enemy is not just British Forces in the North. The enemy is the
exploiter and oppressor of the Irish people. It is British
Imperialism, Unionism and Free Statism. All must equally be fought
and the organised resistance of the people with the constant
leadership and assistance of Republican Revolutionaries must fight
all in the same manner. Every agitationary struggle must be carried
through by the people concerned. The homeless must be organized to
fight for houses, the unemployed for jobs, and the landless for land.
When their struggle brings them face to face with superior force of
the Landlord, the Capitalist or the State they know they can call on
a Revolutionary Army for assistance. Then the I.R.A. will give
whatever help the people think is necessary to ensure victory, but
they must never act on their own initiative without the knowledge of
the people involved. A Revolutionary must remain only sufficiently
ahead of the people to give them leadership but never so far ahead as
to become isolated from them.
It is apparent that even the most successful military struggle in the
North in isolation cannot result in the establishment of an
Independent Socialist Republic. The best that could be achieved is to
put the North into the hands of Fianna Fail, either the Lynch brand
or the Haughey brand. The most vital thing is to develop a popular
struggle in the South to complement the struggle in the North so that
there can be a fusion of the people of both areas in opposition to
the Establishment of both areas: Those who say that Revolutionary
activity in the South is a stab in the back to the fight in the North
are ignoring the lessons of our history and assisting the County
Establishment to maintain their power. It is all too clear that the
stab in the back will come from the Dublin Government when the
opportunity presents itself.
To safeguard the struggle in the North it is therefore essential to
mount a massive campaign in the South to oust the collaborationists.
The economic condition, which republicans predicted as a result of
the Free Trade Agreement, are now upon us. Closures of factories are
coming thick and fast, hundreds of workers are being made redundant
owing to the full effects of the 1965 Free Trade Agreement with
Britain being felt by Irish Industry, and while small and medium
sized farmers are being driven from their holdings by social
pressures hard falling incomes. This is but a first instalment of the
effects of Free Trade in E.E.C. conditions, and should be sufficient
warning to rouse our people to the disaster that awaits our country
in the E.E.C.
Now is the time to organize workers, unemployed, farmers, homeless
etc., to agitate for their right to control of the wealth they
create. They can only exercise that right by taking power from those
who now exploit them. The Irish Republican Army, in North East Ulster
as well as in the rest of Ireland, believe that the mass of workers
and small farmer must organize behind revolutionary leadership if
they are to rescue themselves from a system within which few prosper
and the many are impoverished. It is the opinion of Republicans, a
conviction driven in on their minds by the facts of life around them
that capitalism and imperialism constitute a system of exploitation
and injustice within which the mass of the people know no real
freedom. Unemployment is today reaching dangerous proportions in
Ireland and Britain, while the three Tory Governments make economies
in Social Services, while workers real earnings are falling due to
inflationary conditions caused by speculators and profiteers, while
the same Tory Governments introduce Anti-Worker Legislation, the Six-
County Unionist Regime uses the armed force of 12,000 British troops
in an attempt to intimidate and cow fellow Irishmen, and when this
fails it resorts to indiscriminate killing, torture of men and
imprisonment without trial. The Fianna Fail regime in the 26-
Counties, attempts once more to coerce people who are assisting
dependants of prisoners by holding (collections and introduces
further repressive legislation -- the Forcible Entry Bill -- at the
behest of the property owning elements and threatens To introduce
internment in Ireland without trial in the 26 Counties in order to
aid the British in their efforts to smash the Revolutionary Movement.
For more than fifty years, since they were established, in fact, both
Governments in Ireland, both Orange and Green, Tories have had to
rely on acts of coercion and repression in order to maintain their
power and privileges. In the six Counties, the Special Powers Act,
(which has drawn praise and envy from white South African Government
Ministers), is used to oppress the people. In the 26 Counties, the
ruling classes against Republicans, Farmers and Workers have used the
notorious "Offences Against the State Act". Both of these acts have
been resisted and fought by Republicans down through the years.
The fight to establish and maintain basic civil rights and liberties
is still being fought today, North and South. History records that
any regime that hopes to maintain its power by repressive measures,
such as Special Powers Act and Offences Against the state Act, will
inevitably fall just as sure as certain that those struggling to win
FREEDOM and JUSTICE for the mass if the people will inevitably
survive.
In conjunction with repressive measures against the working class the
Establishment in Ireland and Britain have now drawn up the ŒFinal
Solution' to the "Irish Question". Their plans are to try and force
the Irish people into accepting entry to the E.E.C. where this whole
process of annihilation of the Irish Nation would be accelerated.
Total opposition of the mass of the people to the whole concept of
the E.E.C. is our major task in the coming period. This threat must
be defeated if we are to retain any hope of survival as a nation.
The Irish Republican Army can see no permanent solution of these and
other social evils except by the transfer of power over production,
distribution and exchange to the mass of the people.
The power to produce what the many require exists; its organization
and distribution presents no insoluble difficulty, but the vested
interests of a privileged minority are across the road and progress
is impossible unless the people are prepared to clear away these
obstacles. These interests that deny the rights to the many are those
on which imperialism rests. Touch or threaten these privileged
interests and the whole force of British Imperialism is invoked for
their protection. Thus it is that revolutionary Republicans See and
say that the emancipation of the mass of the Irish people is
impossible without breaking the connection with Imperial Britain and
with the system she has imposed in Ireland, North and South.
The Irish Republican Army believes that only the mass of the Irish
people Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter, aided by a revolutionary
organization can defeat the forces of repression and reaction. A
struggle waged for on behalf of the interests of the people must
involve the mass of the people if it is to succeed.
*******
16 April 2004
IRSP: Free the Jailed Activists of the DHKP-C and Anti-Imperialist
Camp
The International Department of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
joins with revolutionaries around the globe in denouncing the arrest
of comrades of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front
(DHKP-C) throughout Europe. The Irish Republican Socialist Party wish
to express our solidarity with these Anatolian revolutionaries who
have become the scapegoat of European imperialism in the wake of the
bombings in Spain, as well as with the activists of the Anti-
Imperialist Camp who have bravely defended them. We further condemn
the arrests of three Italian members of the Anti-Imperialist Camp in
Perugia.
We in the IRSP have long maintained comradely relations with the DHKP-
C, who have set an example for revolutionaries around the globe by
their courage and iron will in the face of adversity, repression, and
death. Members of our movement have stood beside the members of the
DHKP-C on death fast, and DHKP-C members have stood at the gravesides
of the martyred hunger strikers of the Irish National Liberation
Army. We have come together to speak out against the isolation of
political prisoners and prisoners of war, especially those of the
class war, in the past. We speak out again now in solidarity with
them and in disgust over the imperialists of Europe using the pretext
of their 'war on terrorism' to terrorise revolutionaries within the
Turkish and Kurdish communities of Europe.
Regarding the arrests of three Italian members of the Anti-
Imperialist Camp, the IRSP recognise that the comrades of the Anti-
Imperialist Camp have been targeted by the Italian ruling class for
their militant defense of the armed resistance to the US/British
invasion and occupation of Iraq, as well as for their efforts to
bring anti-imperialists from around the world into dialogue and
collective action with one another. We call upon revolutionary
socialists and anti-imperialist activists worldwide to join in the
defense of these activists and continue to support the efforts by
the Anti-Imperialist Camp to forge stronger bonds of solidarity
between revolutionary organisations throughout the world.
Anti-capitalists and anti-imperialists can no longer continue to
accept such repression by the ruling class. The working class, in
nations throughout the world, can no longer continue to prop up a
capitalist system which is maintained through the theft of their
labour power and leaves them with only misery; a system in which
useless parasites grow fat while working people starve by the
hundreds of millions. Anti-capitalists and anti-imperialists must
stand together now and demand an end to these witch-hunts, this
repression, and this tyranny.
Peadar Baile
Co-Secretary, International Department
Irish Republican Socialist Party
*******
Letters
From IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/
Subject: TRANSFER REQUEST for IRISH POW
Date: Tuesday, April 06, 2004
2) IFC POW DEPT. – ACTION REQUEST
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Please take a moment to COPY and PASTE the suggested text below into
an email to the Home Office in London.
Irish POW JP Hannan, currently serving a 16-Year sentence at
Whitemoor Prison in England, has requested to be transferred to
Maghaberry Prison in Ireland, where he will be closer to his family
and loved ones.
Normal procedure has been followed in his transfer request, with
papers being sent from the Home Office to Maghaberry; and the
acceptance papers from Maghaberry being sent back to the Home
Office.
However a long delay has ensued with the Home Office in London still
not acting upon the transfer.
It is JP Hannan's LEGAL RIGHT to be transferred to a prison in
Ireland, and there can be no good reason for delaying in this
transfer considering that all requirements have been met by all
parties concerned.
For EASY "INSTANT E-MAIL" to Home Office go here:
http://members.freespeech.org/irishpows/bb3/action_request_jphannan.htm
OR:
1. COPY TEXT BELOW
2. OPEN AN EMAIL TO: public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
3. TITLE SUBJECT "TRANSFER OF IRISH PRISONER"
4. PASTE TEXT BELOW INTO EMAIL MESSAGE BODY
5. ADD YOUR NAME/LOCATION
6. SEND
The Irish Freedom Committee®
>>>>BEGIN SAMPLE LETTER -- COPY + PASTE
Home Office
7th Floor
50, Queen Anne's Gate
London SW1H 9AT
To Whom it May Concern:
I am writing in regards to John Paul Hannan, an Irish prisoner who
is currently serving a 16-Year sentence at Whitemoor Prison.
It is my understanding that Mr. Hannan has requested transfer to
Maghaberry Prison in Ireland, where he can be closer to his family
and loved ones. I understand that the normal procedures in his
transfer request have been followed, with papers being sent from the
Home Office in London to the Prisons Service in the North of Ireland,
asking if Maghaberry will accept Mr. Hannan.
I am aware that Maghaberry Prison has since returned the transfer
paperwork to the Home Office, stating that there is no problem with
Mr. Hannan being sent home and that Maghaberry Prison will welcome
him.
I am writing today, then, to enquire why the transfer of Mr. Hannan
has been subsequently delayed and postponed, seeing that the Home
Office has received all paperwork agreeing to the transfer some time
ago.
I am concerned because it appears that Mr. Hannan's legal right to be
transferred to a prison closer to his home, is being disregarded or
overlooked for some reason. I am curious at the delay because the
authorities at Maghaberry have already agreed to the transfer, and
have stated that they will welcome Mr. Hannan there. I am therefore
unclear on why this transfer has been postponed and delayed by the
Home Office for so long.
Please advise.
Sincerely
(YOUR NAME/LOCATION HERE)
*******
What follows is the text of the Dublin Grassroots Network Mayday
leaflet. Some 50,000 copies are being distributed mostly door to door
and mostly in Dublin. PDF file on the web site.
Front cover of leaflet
Mayday Dublin 2004
For an alternative Europe
Irish people have generally seen the European Union as a good thing,
for reasons that include investment in infrastructure and farm
subsidies.
But increasingly the EU is an excuse for privatisation, for shifting
the burden of taxation onto you and for Ireland's increasing
involvement in military adventures.
We are struggling with others across Europe for a different type of
Europe, one that puts people before profit and does away with top-
down decision making. Join these protests in the struggle for an
alternative Europe.
Fortress Europe
In advance of joining the EU, the 10 accession countries have had to
open their borders to the flow of money, but the movement of the
peoples of these countries is to be limited for up to seven years. We
welcome the admission of the people of these countries, but the
governments of the EU want to keep them out as long as possible, all
the while using them as cheap labour -- profit before people.
Beyond Europe, many countries have been forced to open their markets
to European capital and to low-wage, European-owned factories.
European corporations want to use the EU as a common front to force
these harsh neo-liberal policies on the third world. Yet the people
of these countries face fences and walls if they try to enter Europe.
Many are forced to make desperate boat journeys around these barriers.
The EU's repressive anti-immigrant policies claimed the lives of at
least 3,000 people between 1993 and June 2003, people drowned in the
Mediterranean, electrocuted at the Channel Tunnel or suffocated in
Wexford. This is 10 times as many as were killed at the Berlin Wall
during its 30-year history. These policies are designed to make
immigrants illegal and force them to survive in a precarious, hunted
position, or live on short-term visas, dependent on work permits held
by their employers. In both cases they are vulnerable and open to
extreme exploitation as cheap labour. They have little access to
heath and safety enforcement, as shown by the tragic deaths of 19
Chinese people at Morecambe Bay this year.
Militarisation
The foreign policy of the European Union is based on satisfying the
interests of Big Business, irrespective of social cost. The
militarisation of the EU is evidenced in the Common Foreign and
Security Policy and the Rapid Reaction Force (the European Army).
These are the EU's tools to promote the global interests of European
multinationals. Again profit before people.
Bertie has waffled on about protecting Irish neutrality, yet he
ignored 100,000 protestors when he allowed the US to use Shannon
Airport as its major air stopover for US troops on their way to Iraq.
In 2003, 125,000 US troops passed through Shannon en route to the
Iraq war. Munitions of war, including Tomahawk, Cruise, and Patriot
missile components, as well as napalm, passed through 'neutral
Ireland'. Considering this support for the war effort of a country
that is not even an EU member, can we believe one word Bertie says
about defending Irish neutrality within the EU?
Unfair Taxation
The Irish government has used EU policy to transfer the cost of
public services from the rich to the poor. Chief amongst the methods
used has been the introduction of high levels of local taxation,
disguised as the bin tax. Environment Minister Martin Cullen has
indicated that he hopes to get the bin charge up to E700 a year and
the Government plans to introduce other new charges, such as a water
tax. In 10 years, such local charges are expected to total E1000,
which would mean people on low incomes paying 5% of their income on
service charges and the very wealthy paying 0.5%.
Between 1987 and 2001 the proportion of GDP going to Irish workers
(measured as wages) fell and the proportion going to Irish bosses
(measured as rents and profits) shot up.
Privatisation and the Lisbon Agenda
The Irish government's official EU website declares that "the Lisbon
strategy is a major priority for the Irish Presidency". The Lisbon
Agenda specifically targets "gas, electricity, postal services and
transport" for privatisation. Water, health, education and social
services will be next.
The first step in privatisation is forcing people to pay for public
services to make them profitable and attractive to investors. We can
see this here with the bin charges, the back-door reintroduction of
third level fees and the threatened privatisation of Dublin Bus and
other public services. Privatisation invariably results in worse
working conditions, greater inequality of services, lay-offs and wage
cuts as bosses seek to cut corners to maintain profits.
So who set the Lisbon Agenda? Who decided that this is how the
European economy should be run?
It is estimated that Brussels hosts some 500 industry lobby groups,
employing some 10,000 professional lobbyists. Corporations that spend
millions 'lobbying' the EU make no secret of the influence this
brings. One of the most powerful is the European Round Table of
Industrialists (ERT), which brings together more than 40 "European
industrial leaders." Ireland is represented by Michael Smurfit, while
most of the other corporations are household names across Europe,
such as BP, Unilever, Carlsberg, Fiat, Vodafone, Volvo, Philips,
Nokia, Renault and Shell.
The ERT has boasted that "at European level, the ERT has contacts
with the Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European
Parliament ... Every six months the ERT meets with the government
that holds the EU presidency to discuss priorities ... At national
level, each member has personal contacts with his own national
government and parliament, business colleagues and industrial
federations, other opinion-formers and the press."
Baron Daniel Janssen of the ERT boasted that it was "very much
involved in the preparation of the [Lisbon] Summit." In Lisbon EU
policy was shaped by the 40 "industrial leaders" of the ERT and not
by the 50,000 demonstrators outside the summit building or by the
needs of the people of Europe. Now we are all required to dance to
the ERT tune.
What Sort of Europe do we want?
The groups and individuals involved in this Grassroots Network are
united by a vision of a better future, one without bosses or
governments, be they in Dublin or Brussels; one in which all local
communities are directly run by the people living in them and all
workplaces by the people working in them; a future in which everyone
has control over their own lives and an equal say in the decisions
that affect them. We are talking not just about receiving an equal
share of what is produced, but also transforming the quality of life,
doing away with long working hours and increasing free time. We
struggle for a genuinely sustainable economy and an end to
environmental policies in which every 'solution' must be corporate-
led and profit-driven.
People like you all over Europe are fighting for the same things. We
are taking to the streets not only to build our resistance in Ireland
but to forge links throughout Europe. Tens of thousands of people in
Ireland have already been involved in resisting the race for wealth
that is capitalism, which robs so many of us of our voice, our dreams
and our aspirations.
Dublin Grassroots Network - Who we are
Dublin Grassroots Network is a network of activists who come together
to fight for a better future, based on the Grassroots Principles (see
over). We are part of the Grassroots Gathering and the Grassroots
Network Against War. We operate in an open and democratic way, where
everybody has an equal say. If you want to get involved, get in touch.
Phone: 087-2820906 Email: grassrootsdublin@yahoo.com
Web: http://grassrootsgathering.freeservers.com/
and
http://struggle.ws/eufortress/
News: http://www.indymedia.ie/
Our Principles
We believe that people should control their own lives and work
together as equals. This means:
...Rejecting top-down and state-centred forms of organisation.
...Calling for solutions that involve ordinary people controlling
their own lives and having the resources to do so
...Organising for control of the workplace by those who work there.
...Calling for the control of communities by the people who live
there.
...Arguing for a sustainable environmental, economic and social
system, agreed by the people of the planet.
Mayday Menu - what's going on Actions For An Alternative Europe
Aperitif
Critical Mass - mass cycle and walk through the city 5.30 pm, Fri.
April 30th, Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Sq
Entres
No Borders Morning - actions against fortress EU 10 am Saturday May
1st, Civic Offices, Wood Quay Reclaim The City - anti-privatisation
actions 2.30pm Saturday May 1st, Grafton St. (at Stephens Green)
Main Course
Bring The Noise - March to Farmleigh House to let the EU heads of
state hear us - bring pots, pans, whistles... 6pm Sat. May 1st,
Phoenix Park (Parkgate St./Benburb St.)
Dessert
No Borders Camp - Act in solidarity with immigrants 11am Sunday May
2nd, Custom House Quay
Digestif
Reclaim The Streets - Street Party for a better future 3pm Mon. May
3rd, Ambassador Cinema, OConnell St.
*******
What's On?
*
ANTI-WAR IRELAND bulletin, 15/4/04
Anti-War Ireland is a broad-based, and inclusive, national alliance
of independent anti-war groups. It is explicitly anti-racist and anti-
sexist.
Convenor: Fintan Lane (087 1258325)
PROs: Caoimhe Butterly (087 2134160), and Tim Hourigan (087 9777703).
CONTENTS
Public meeting, Teachers' Club, Parnell Square, Dublin, 3pm on
Sunday, 18 April. Speakers will include Harry Browne, Aisling Reidy
(ICCL), the Pitstop Ploughshares, and Mary Kelly (chair).
Protest at US embassy, Dublin, 6pm on Monday, 19 April. Organised by
the IAWM.
Pitstop Ploughshares vigil at Israeli embassy, Dublin, 20 April.
Cork protest in solidarity with Iraqi people, assembling at 7pm at
Daunt Square, on Thursday, 22 April. Organised by Cork Anti-War
Campaign/Anti-War Ireland.
Anti-War Ireland organising meeting. Meeting to discuss the
forthcoming AWI national conference. This meeting will be held in
Limerick on Saturday, 24 April - for information phone Fintan Lane at
087 1258325.
INTRODUCTION
Over the past week or so, the violence and brutality of the US
occupation of Iraq has been fully exposed. The US military onslaught
on Falluja has resulted in the deaths of more than 600 people, the
majority of whom were almost certainly civilians. This collective
punishment was supposedly in retaliation for the killing and
mutilation of four private security contractors in the city, but it
is clear that the real point was to use overwhelming force to
indicate who is boss in the 'new' Iraq. In the process hundreds of
innocent men, women and children have been killed. This is an outrage.
Elsewhere, the US faces an armed uprising of Shia Muslims who have
clearly had enough of the continuing occupation of their country.
This rising has finally and savagely exposed the lie circulated by
the Bremer regime that the resistance in Iraq was composed entirely
of "former regime loyalists" and "foreign fighters". It is now clear
that the opposition to the occupation is growing among ordinary
Iraqis, both Sunni and Shia.
In Ireland, Bertie Ahern and his government continue to facilitate
the US killing machine at Shannon airport. Indeed, the extent of
Irish complicity was underlined recently when the Evening Herald
published photographs of US military aircraft landing at Baldonnel to
avail of refuelling facilities there. Ireland remains a cog in the US
war machine.
Anti-War Ireland believes that a key aim of the anti-war movement in
this country must be the ending of Irish government complicity. We
must disengage this State from the US war machine, and we must make
clear the extent of Irish opposition to the belligerence of the Bush
administration.
Anti-War Ireland is organising a national conference for 15 May to re-
organise and re-mobilise the anti-war movement in Ireland. Details
will be posted closer to the date. A meeting to organise for this
conference will be held in Limerick on Saturday, 24 April. All
welcome. Phone 087 1258325 for details.
Anti-War Ireland is also building for a large protest to be held at
Shannon airport on Friday evening, 25 June, to 'welcome' the
warmonger George W. Bush as he arrives in Ireland. We intend to meet
and greet as he arrives, to voice our objections to his
administration's actions in Iraq and elsewhere (such as his recent
support for Israeli land-grabbing in Palestine), and simultaneously
protest at the misuse of an Irish civilian airport for US military
purposes. We are hoping and expecting buses to travel from all over
Ireland, and beyond, for this demonstration.
In the meantime, the following are some upcoming anti-war activities.
(If you wish to include an event/notice in future bulletins, please
email the relevant information to irishanti-war@excite.com.)
PROTEST AT US EMBASSY
Dublin, 6.30pm on Friday, 16 April. Organised by Fairview Against the
War/Anti-War Ireland. This picket is intended to highlight Irish
anger at the massacres currently underway in Iraq. Hundreds of Iraqi
civilians have been killed in Falluja alone. We need as many people
as possible to turn up for this picket. Be there! Don't allow Bush
and his cronies feel that we are complicit by our silence. Make your
voice heard against the killing of innocent civilians by this illegal
occupation.
VIGIL OUTSIDE ISRAELI EMBASSY
Dublin April 20 - All Night Vigil at Israeli Embassy on Eve of
Vanunu's Release by Dublin Catholic Worker & Pit Stop Ploughshares
pitstopploughshares@hotmail.com phone: 087 918 4552
Support All night Vigil at Dublin's Israeli Embassy April 20 -21
The international non-violent movement against Weapons of Mass
Destruction readies itself to welcome Mordachii Vanunu's deliverance
from an Israeli prison. Vanunu has spent just short of 18 years in
prison following his kidnapping by the Mossad in Rome. Vanunu exposed
Israel's nuclear weapons program.
There will be an all night vigil outside the Israeli Embassy 122
Pembroke Rd. Dublin D4. *Begins Tuesday April 20 7.30 pm *Multi faith
service 8.30 pm *Walk to Dail Wed 11 am More info 087 918 4552
*Bring wet gear. sleeping bag, placards & banners related to Israel's
WMD & Vanunu. If possible text 087 918 4552 if you can commit to
doing part of the vigil.
CORK DEMONSTRATION IN SOLIDARITY WITH IRAQI PEOPLE
Organised by Cork Anti-War Campaign/Anti-War Ireland. Assemble at
Daunt Square at 7pm, on Thursday, 22 April. Bring home-made placards
or other symbols of your opposition to the war in Iraq. All welcome!
Further information, phone 087 1258325.
Anti-War Ireland bulletin, 15/4/04
by Fintan Lane - Convenor, Anti-War Ireland Thursday, Apr 15 2004,
9:22pm
email: irishanti-war@excite.com
phone: 087 1258325
*
Remember Palestine at Belfast May Day March Saturday 1st May:12.00pm
Annual May Day March in Belfast City Centre The IPSC will be
represented as usual in this year's march the theme of which is March
against racism! Come along and show your support for the cause of
Palestine. Bring flags and posters. Join 6000 trade unionists and
working people in the annual May Day March through Belfast city
centre accompanied by brass, pipe and samba bands Assemble College of
Art, Lower Donegall Street, Belfast, 12pm for speeches before the
march through the City centre past the City hall and into St George's
Market at the back of the City Hall. Afterwards take part in the
Family festival in St. George's Market 1pm-5pm, where there will be
food stalls and family entertainment.
*
The 5th William Thompson Weekend takes place at the Firkin Crane
Centre in Cork over the May bank holiday weekend.
The theme this year is 'Class' and a full programme will be posted
closer to the date.
FUNDRAISER
Fundraising gig in Support of William Thompson Weekend will take
place in Spalpin Fanach Pub, South Main Street Cork on April 15 from
8.30pm.
Acts include: Red Sea Pedestrians, Snatch (Comedy Improvisation),
Diarmuid O'Dalaigh and Friends.
Adm E8 or E6 Concession
*******
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