Friday 29 January 2010

Internal Settlement Fails Again


éirígí general secretary Breandán Mac Cionnaith has said the breakdown of talks between the establishment parties in the Six Counties and the London and Dublin governments is evidence of the failed nature of the northern state.

The latest crisis talks over the devolution of limited policing and justice powers to Britain’s Stormont administration appear to have become deadlocked over unionist demands for Orange Order marches to be allowed to proceed through nationalist communities.

Mac Cionnaith said: “Attempts at an internal settlement for the Six Counties are doomed to failure. All such attempts have failed in the past and they will do so again. The Six County state is a failed political entity. No amount of cosmetic reform and spin can change that fact.

“Even if the policing and justice powers in question were devolved to Stormont, it would make no meaningful difference to the role of the PSNI and the British legal system in the Six Counties. According to the St Andrews agreement, after devolution the head of the PSNI would still be accountable to the British secretary of state in matters relating to ‘national security’, i.e. the interests of the British state in Ireland.


“As a result, every time the PSNI fired a plastic bullet, used Tasers or CS gas, harassed someone under repressive legislation, raided a home or detained someone without charge for 28 days, a Six County justice minister would be powerless to do anything about it, even if they wanted to.

“The PSNI’s primary job is to protect the British occupation – that job description will not be changing any time soon.”

Mac Cionnaith continued: “The apparent failure of the latest set of crisis talks highlights the reality that a two-state solution is not a feasible option for Irish society.


“The only hope for meaningful progress and change for the Irish people, north and south, lies with a British disengagement from this country’s affairs and the ending of partition. Every failed effort at normalising the Six County state reinforces that fact.”

http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest290110.html

Thursday 28 January 2010

Smash Section 44

The video below has been put together by the Republican Network for Unity. It clearly outlines the numerous injustices that the British Paramilitary police are inflicting upon Irish Republicans from Internment, harassment, torture, murder and it also exposes the illegal section 44 legislation.

At the start of the video you will see a Republican being dragged out of his home in Ardoyne by the RUC/PSNI, while they were raiding his home they threatened to taser a heavily pregnant woman.

Disturblingly before his arrest he was stopped on seperate occasions by a number of former Republicans including Sean Maguire and Bobby Storey, they actually told him that he was going to be lifted.

Following these sinister approaches the Republican sensibly contacted his solicitor with a signed affidavit. Next thing he knew the sinister warnings from the former Republicans came true as you can see in the video below.

Makes you wonder just how much former Republicans are cooperating with enemy forces

Wednesday 27 January 2010

More Harassment from the British Police


In recent days 2 members of the RNU were arrested in Belfast allegedly  in connection with the attempted assassination of enemy combatant Peadar Heffron. Thankfully the 2 Republicans have been released without charge. It seems to be the norm that the British Militia make these "token" arrests following Republican attacks to make it look as if they are on top of things. How long will it be before we have more people framed and Interned by remand?

This morning in Derry a man driving his 2 young children to school was dragged out of his car under section 44. The 2 children were also pulled out of the car and were physically searched, their schoolbags were then emptied onto the path by these loyalist thugs in uniform. This is nothing short of child abuse.

This happened even though section 44 was recently declared illegal by the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg, that proves that the RUC/PSNI are a law onto themselves. They are known across the world as Human Rights abusers and nothing has changed.

Republicans will be holding a protest at Strand Road RUC barracks today at 2pm in response to this incident.

UPDATE: PROTEST WAS A SUCCESS

As i mentioned earlier there was a protest today at 2pm at Strand Road RUC barracks, this was very successful and there was an excellent turnout considering the short notice.






The RUC/PSNI harassed those participating in the peaceful protest and also attempted to direct the traffic away from it in an unsucceessful attempt to censor the protesters by trying to keep them out of sight.

Let's not forget that a serving "officer" was recently questioned about the Loughinisland massa
cre, he must be one of the bad apples we hear of now and again. It's interesting to point out that enemy force collusion is still happening, it wasn't too long ago that RUC/PNI employee Aaron Hill was caught passing Nationalists details to UVF member Darren Richardson from the RUC/PSNI database.

Thankfully not everyone has been fooled by the normalisation of British policing and the acceptance of them by former Republicans. There are many Republicans who have not sided with the enemy. This body of people is growing constantly and will continue to oppose, highlight and resist British Policing in Ireland

Wednesday 20 January 2010

Final Salute For Derry Republican


Republicans all over the country were saddened to hear of the untimely death of Bogside Republican and Ex-Pow Jim Gallagher who died suddenly earlier this week.

Jim was a lifelong Republican who was imprisoned by the British for his Republican beliefs.


Jim was a member of the Republican Network for Unity and was a highly respected Republican, and this was proven by the large crowd that accompanied his remains back to his home on Tuesday night.

As the cortege reached Jim's home his tricolour draped coffin was placed on trestles. Out of the darkness 3 Republican Volunteers stepped forward and gave Jim a fitting send off that any Republican would be proud of. The large crowd gave a rapturous applause as the volunteers fired a volley of shots over Jims coffin.




Requiem Mass will be celebrated in St Columba's Church, Long Tower, on Thursday morning.

"The volley which we have just heard is the only speech which it is proper to make above the grave of a dead Fenian.’


Friday 15 January 2010

Stop & Search Illegal Says Human Rights Court



The ruling made today [Tuesday] by the European Court of Human Rights in relation to stop and search powers exercised under Section 44 of the British government’s ‘Terrorism Act’ must be immediately applicable to the Six Counties éirígí general secretary Breandán Mac Cionnaith has said.


The Strasbourg court had been hearing a case involving two protesters stopped near an arms fair in London in 2003. The European Court, in a judgment issued earlier today, stated that “the Court considers that the powers of authorisation and confirmation as well as those of stop and search under sections 44 and 45 of the 2000 (Terrorism) Act are neither sufficiently circumscribed nor subject to adequate legal safeguards against abuse. They are not, therefore, ‘in accordance with the law’.”

The Court also stated that that the powers constituted a violation of Article 8 of the Convention on Human Rights. The Court also stated that there is a clear risk of arbitrariness in the granting of such a broad discretion to police.

Mac Cionnaith said: “This ECHR ruling is extremely pertinent for the Six Counties where there has been a dramatic rise in the use of repressive stop and search powers under Section 44.


“The ruling comes just two months after it was revealed that there were more than 12,000 stop & search incidents in the Six Counties under the British government’s ‘Terrorism Act’ and ‘Justice & Security Act’ between July and September last year. Over 10,000 stop and searches were conducted under Section 44 – the same power which this European Court ruling relates to.


“The figures on stop & search between July and September were three times the number for the previous quarter. Those figures and the European Court ruling clearly demonstrate the illegal and arbitrary reality of British policing in the Six Counties. It is one that is far removed from what was promised by the nationalist parties who took the decision to endorse the PSNI.”

Mac Cionnaith continued: “It should also be noted that the ECHR stated that there is a further risk that such a widely framed stop and search power could be misused against demonstrators and protestors in breach of Article 10 and/or 11 of the Convention. That was clearly the case in relation to the PSNI’s actions in response to a totally peaceful protest organised by éirígí at the British army’s telecommunications post on the Black Mountain, outside Belfast, in November last year. The PSNI used these now discredited stop and search powers in an attempt to harass and intimidate those taking part in the protest – a fact which the PSNI sought to deny at the time.


“In light of today’s ruling, we would urge all persons subjected to stop and search by the PSNI under Section 44 from today onwards to immediately contact a solicitor with a view to challenging the legality of their detention and search.”






Wednesday 13 January 2010

Attacks on The Elderly and Vulnerable

In recent times there has been a significant increase in the number of attacks on elderly and vulnerable people. Some of these attacks have been quite serious and have involved violence.

Why is there an increase in such attacks?
And more importantly what can we do to help prevent them?

The RUC/PSNI dont seem to be doing anything about it. I myself was contacted recently by an elderly person who was attacked, they told me that they had contacted the RUC/PSNI but it took them almost 12 hours to leave the comfort of the barracks to come and see the victim. Plus i have no doubt in my mind that some of the thugs responsible for these sickening attacks are working for the British Militia, recieving money for bits of information. How can someone contact the RUC/PSNI and ask them to catch the thugs when some of the thugs are in fact working for them?

One way that these attacks can be prevented is if the community deals with them. Its up to the people to look out for eachother and to regulary check on their elderly and vulnerable neighbours.

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Dublin In Decline?




 Just what is going on in Dublin?

Yet another high profile resignation for the Shinners, the recent resignation of Killian Forde brings to 3 the number of PSF councillors that have resigned from the party since June!

In 2004 PSF had an impressive 10 councillors in Dublin, today they have a mere 4 (one of which is rumoured to be currently deciding his future in the party).


There were two resignations in Ballyfermot, Tony Smithers and then Lousie Minihan’s defection to éirigí, one in Cabra Nicky Kehoe, one in Crumlin Robbie Sargent, one in North Inner City Christy Burke, one in South West Inner City Andrew O’Connell, and now the resignation of Killian Forde in Donaghmeade. On top of that they lost their only MEP Mary Lou. That is a massive loss for PSF in the capital of Ireland, the place where such a party should be at it's strongest.

In regards to Killian Forde i'm not a big fan of his, his stance on the Dublin City Council budget was nothing short of disgusting. The budget he voted in favour of puts extreme pressure on over 40,000 families with a low income. PSF were in the process of taking action against him when he left taking his seat with him. It looks like he jumped before he was pushed and I actually believe that PSF are glad that he's gone, who wouldn't be glad to get rid of a right wing gobshite?

A number of shinners have said that they knew he had "right wing leanings", if that's the case why did the PSF leadership allow this man to contest elections and why was he chosen to replace Mary Lou in the EU? Surely a person with Right wing leanings would not be allowed anywhere near a so called "Republican party"

It was the same when Lousie Minhan resigned. A number of PSF members raised their concerns about her and according to those members their concerns were ignored by the PSF leadership. Louise contested the election, got elected then resigned taking the seat with her.


Máirtín Ó Muilleoir has spoken out against PSF's statement on Killian's resignation and it looks like he isn't too impressed with it. "Politics is a game best played long so I wonder if the language used in this Sinn Féin statement noting Cllr Killian Forde's departure from Sinn Féin ranks on Dublin city council is wise."

The PSF statement that Máirtín is referring to mentioned Killian being "Careerist" and clearly "in the wrong party",
 
Why are these concerns only being raised when he has left? And if Killian was clearly in the wrong party then why was he chosen to replace, political failure, Mary Lou in the EU? Surely if he was tipped to hold such a post he must have been highly thought of.
 
There are also demands being made that he hands his seat back, but those making the demands weren't as vocal when former Orangeman, RUC member and SDLP cllr Billy Leonard joined the shinners taking his SDLP seat with him and likewise a similar situation with Cllr Gerry Murray in Mayo, Thomas Pringle in Donegal, Oliver McMullen in Antrim and many more . Seems to be a case of spitting the dummy out!


I have spoken to several members of PSF about this and when i asked what type of person Killian was i got a mixed response. Some say he was quite humerous and a very hard worker, others said he was a bit too posh and snobbish for their liking.

Things aren't looking to good for the shinners in Dublin, they have lost some good people (and some not so good) and it's obvious they are having serious problems, but one thing i will say is that even though it means one less Councillor, in my opinion they are better off without Killian Forde.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Increase in Enemy Chopper Activity



It has recently been revealed that there has been a 46% increase in complaints about British Army helicopter activity in Occupied Ireland.

For complaints to rise by that margin that makes it obvious that the number of enemy operations has also risen.

It has also been admitted that "just some" of these enemy operations are training exercises for Afghanistan. That obviously must mean that the majority are aimed against the Irish people.

We need to ask, what sinister operations are enemy forces involved in when they are in our skies?

Human Rights activist and éirígí general secretary Breandán Mac Cionnaith said the following about this issue, “Whether it’s training for Afghanistan or actual operations in the Six Counties, there is absolutely no excuse for British army helicopter activity in Ireland.


“However, it is significant that the British government’s reviewer of its army’s activities in Ireland attributed only some of the helicopter activity to training for Afghanistan. By omission, what he is saying that the rest of the flights were down to British army operations in Ireland, against Irish citizens.


“éirígí has been saying for a long time that the British war machine is again cranking up its activities in the Six Counties. Last year, former PSNI chief Hugh Orde admitted that at least one regiment – the Special Reconnaissance Regiment – was back on a war footing on Irish soil. Now, Robert Whalley has tacitly admitted that British military aircraft are engaging in operations against Irish citizens.”


Mac Cionnaith continued: “Over the years, British military helicopters have caused great disruption to communities across the Six Counties, particularly in rural areas. These flights should be grounded immediately.


“Neither the people of Ireland nor the people of Afghanistan need the presence of the British war machine in their countries.”

Once again éirígí are on the ball in raising awareness on the illegal occupation and and they must be commended for doing so. In recent years they have been to the fore highlighting and opposing British Occupation.

In 2008 they successfully opposed the RIR homecoming. Thanks to the provocation and massive British police presence, normalisation was shattered that day. Dozens of riot clad RUC paramiliraties and dozens of armoured landrovers backed up by British helicopters prevented 500 peaceful protesters from getting to Belfast city centre.



They have also disrupted a number of enemy force recruitment events which are used in an attempt to recruit young people into a foreign army of occupation. Some of these events actually had to be cancelled due to the fear of éirígí protesting at them.



They actively resisted Armed Forces day and again were forcibly prevented by the British police from reaching Belfast City hall by hundreds of riot clad paramilitaries. Ironically former Republicans were able to hold a demonstration at the front of city hall the day before and managed to climb on the main gates to tie black ribbons on and guess what......there wasn't a peeler in sight!!!!. I wonder if éirígí activists would have been able to do that? They most likely would have got their skulls cracked if they had of tried. It's obvious who is a threat to Britsh Occupation, normalisation and the status quo.



éirígí opposed the presence of a British warship in Belfast dock at the tall ships event and actually boarded the monstrosity and held their protest on the warship. As a direct result of this protest éirígí forced the enemy forces to cancel a planned Royal Marines band parade. They also protested at the presence of a British warship docked in Dublin.




It's clear that partition is as strong as ever and the British forces are here for the long haul, they must also realise that we, Irish Republicans, are also in it for the long haul and we are not going anywhere. Some gullible former Republicans predict that Ireland will be reunified 2016, they need to catch themselves on. Nothing could be further from the truth. Britain maintains a garrison of at least 5,000 troops in the Six Counties, at least one of its regiments – the Special Reconnaissance Regiment – is back on a war footing on Irish soil, the PSNI is harassing nationalists, firing plastic bullets and raiding homes on a daily basis and MI5 is running hundreds of agents from its massive base in north Down.


Enemy chopper in South Armagh recently

Irish Republicans will continue to oppose and highlight British Occupation and as éirígí said recently “We will not allow Britain’s occupation of Irish territory to go unchallenged.”

Monday 4 January 2010

éirígí 2009 Review



I came across this video recently which shows what activities éirígí were involved in 2009. éirígí are a Republican Socialist political party who were formed in Dublin in 2006 they initially had just 5 members, now just 3 years later they have hundreds of members all over Ireland, this is clearly a group that is making great strides in rebuilding the Republican Movement and they are certainly one to watch.



2009 marked another year of expansion for éirígí across Ireland. The video above captures a flavour of the campaigns-based activism that éirígí engages in. If you like what you see and are interested in joining éirígí please email eirigimembership@gmail.com

http://www.eirigi.org/