éirígí Newry Rejects PSNI ‘Engagement’

The socialist republican party éirígí has rejected an offer from the PSNI to engage with the force.

The offer emerged following reports in the local media in Newry in which the PSNI responded to éirígí’s statement exposing the fact that undercover British state operatives approached a neighbour of the party’s Newry spokesperson Stephen Murney and attempted to recruit him into working for them in gathering information.

Dismissing the suggestion that the party should meet with the British forces, éirígí’s Stephen Murney said, “The first thing to note is that the PSNI do not deny that they were involved in a surreptitious approach to one of my neighbours and attempted to pressurise him into working for them as a spy. The very fact that the PSNI didn’t deny this vindicates our decision to publicise the underhand nature of these PSNI activities.

“The person who was approached by the PSNI to spy made very detailed statements about these incidents to an independent legal representative and to a human rights organisation. Those statements indicate that these approaches were first made during the early summer. Indeed, those statements also show that the PSNI called to the man's home several weeks before those dates on which the PSNI assert they were conducting house to house enquiries.

“The suggestion that anyone who finds themselves being targeted by the PSNI should contact the PSNI is clearly absurd. Meeting and engaging with those directly involved in such activity would serve no meaningful purpose.

“As for the attempt by the PSNI’s PR office to portray éirígí’s highlighting of very real and serious issue of human rights’ concern as a ‘tit-for-tat debate about the past’, nothing could be further from the truth.

“The recruitment of informers and pressurising neighbours to spy on neighbours is part of the PSNI’s current present day tactics, approved at the most senior levels within that force. It is the PSNI who are continuing to use and implement on a daily basis the discredited policies and tactics of the past.”

Murney continued, “éirígí will continue to be active in our communities. Our members in Newry, and indeed across Ireland, include many activists who have been involved in working on behalf of their communities for years. That work includes helping our neighbours in need, spearheading community projects and initiatives, taking part in and supporting charitable events, lobbying for improvements for various community issues, organising community clean ups, and involvement in the public and voluntary sector as well being active in trade unions.”

Stephen added, “In contrast, it is the PSNI who are the heavy-handed strangers and outsiders seeking to undermine our communities.”

http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest210912.html

Statement from Lundy family

I have been asked by Daniel Lundy to publicise how his meeting with NGA (Belfast) on Tuesday went, by posting the letter he sent them today dealing with issues arising. Please pass on.

To the Committee NGA (Belfast)


At our recent meeting, regarding the omission of my father, Alan Lundy, from the County Antrim Memorial at Milltown Cemetery an explanation that I believe was disingenuous was given for the failure of the NGA (Belfast) to have my father’s name inscribed along with those of his friends and comrades. At the meeting, attended by my sister Clare and I representing our family, and Joe Austin, Liam Shannon and Anne Murray representing NGA (Belfast), we were informed that my father was left off the memorial because “the Lundy family have never approached” NGA (Belfast) and that this was official policy.

Following the meeting I approached a number of friends who until recently were prominent members of the NGA (Belfast), including Pádraic Mac Coitir, Rab Jackson and a former member from Ardoyne. They told me that at no time has this been official policy of the NGA (Belfast), and that in effect our family had been lied to in this regard. This was also confirmed as nonsense by the family of Maire Drumm, who was a Sinn Fein member, assassinated by Loyalists and buried in a family grave exactly like my father. They have confirmed that at no point, either for the old or new memorial, did they have to approach NGA (Belfast) for their mother’s inclusion on the County Antrim Memorial. When asked why you had not seeked permission for putting my father’s name on your website, nor needed to be approached by the family for this to be done you said “those names were taken from Tirghra”. This proves our family’s point. My father was a Sinn Féin activist at the time of his murder, as well as an IRA Volunteer, as acknowledged by the Republican Movement at the time of Tirghra. As such he should have been acknowledged on the Antrim Memorial.

At the meeting we were also informed that the only reason that anyone would be omitted from the County Antrim Memorial was if the Provisional IRA said so, or if the family objected. Given that the PIRA never objected and I can state categorically that the Lundy family also never objected, why was my father left off the memorial? And given recent public assertions by both Martin McGuinness and Declan Kearney that the Provisional IRA no longer exists, who are the NGA (Belfast) going to ask permission from now if my father’s name is to belatedly be included on the Memorial?

My father’s omission is especially baffling, given that his name was inscribed immediately after his assassination on the Ardoyne/Bone/Ligoniel Memorial at the Sinn Fein Centre in Ardoyne. He is acknowledged as an IRA Volunteer in Tirghra and is included on the Republican Roll of Honour published in An Phoblacht every year, not the Roll of Remembrance. The Provisional IRA also paid for my father’s funeral.

Effectively, NGA (Belfast) are saying that it is not their fault that Alan Lundy is not on the County Antrim Memorial, but the fault of our family. The facts do not bear this out, and we refuse to accept this explanation. The meeting with NGA (Belfast) has actually increased the hurt and distress that our family is feeling, and the cruel and callous manner in which my sister and I were addressed was an absolute disgrace, adding insult to injury. When we asked for an apology, we were told by Liam Shannon “I don’t think so somehow” and that our family was to blame and NGA (Belfast) had nothing to apologise for. I think that your committee, if it has any morals left, should seriously discuss this man’s ability to deal with the families of our Patriot Dead, given his approach towards my sister and I. Given this attitude, we would find it hard now to accept any apology, as it would be quite clearly an insincere attempt at damage limitation.

To conclude, the Lundy Family are looking forward to the day that my father is rightfully acknowledged for the sacrifice he made for all of the people of the Irish nation by having his name inscribed on the County Antrim Memorial along with his friends and comrades. We look forward to hearing from you as to the date and time that this will be carried out.

Daniel Lundy
(Son of Alan Lundy)

A Decade of Centenaries for Historical Revisionism?

A Decade of Centenaries for Historical Revisionism?

As a two-part feature, we carry an article by éirígí Rúnaí Gineáralta, Breandán Mac Cionnaith, on the forthcoming decade of centenaries and how the partitionist institutions in Stormont and Leinster House, along with the Westminster government, are already planning to take possession of the events of one hundred years ago. The article explains the necessity for republicans, socialists and other progressives to take ownership of the legacy of the Irish revolutionary period from 1913-1923.

In the second article, dealing with the dangers of revisionist Irish history, we re-publish the text of the 1989 C. Desmond Greaves Memorial Lecture delivered by Peter Berresford Ellis.
We gratefully acknowledge The Irish Democrat for their permission to re-publish that memorial lecture, entitled ‘Revisionism in Irish Historical Writing – The new anti-nationalist school of historians’.

Peter Berresford Ellis is an historian and novelist and a regular contributor to the Irish Democrat. He is the author of A History of the Irish Working Class, Hell or Connaught: The Cromwellian Colonisation of Ireland, and The Boyne Water: The Battle of the Boyne 1690. He edited and introduced James Connolly: Selected Writings.

Charles Desmond Greaves (27 September 1913 – 23 August 1988) was an Irish activist and historian. He wrote a number of books on Irish history as a Marxist historian, including The Life and Times of James Connolly (1961), The Easter Rising as History (1966), and Liam Mellows and the Irish Revolution (1971). In 1941 he joined the Connolly Club, which later became the Connolly Association and became the editor of its magazine The Irish Democrat.

A Decade of Centenaries for Historical Revisionism?

Without any doubt, the period from 1913 to 1923 was indeed one of the great revolutionary periods in Irish history when the various social, economic and political movements of that time combined into a popular struggle for national liberation and sovereignty.

From 1913, a year which saw workers engaged in a momentous struggle for trade union recognition, better pay and conditions, and which also saw the formation of the Irish Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers; through to the Easter Rising of 1916 and the Declaration of the Republic; resistance to conscription and the general election of 1918; An Chéad Dáil Éireann and the commencement of a nationwide armed revolt; the establishment of workers’ soviets and alternative systems of governance; through to the Treaty and the partition of Ireland in 1921; culminating in the civil war and the defence of the Republic; this was a momentous period from which lessons can and must be drawn and learned.
The two defining documents of that era – the 1916 Proclamation and the Democratic Programme of 1919 – set out clearly the demands for national self-determination, for social and economic justice and democracy, of cherishing all the children of the nation equally, of claiming the wealth of Ireland for the people of Ireland.

Those who endorsed and supported those demands were men and women with a vision for a new, equal and free Ireland.

Sadly, they saw their vision of a radically new Ireland crushed by a foreign power, by a domestic capitalist class, and by self-serving political elites.

This month, which sees the 100th anniversary of the ‘Ulster Covenant’, heralds the commencement of what those in establishment circles in both the Six and Twenty-Six Counties have called “the decade of commemorations”.

On March 15th this year, the Six County Executive announced it had “decided to take the lead role in organising events for the forthcoming Decade of Commemorations... Ministers agreed that it was appropriate and necessary for the Executive to set the tone and provide leadership in putting an official acknowledgement process in place.”

Likewise, in the Twenty-Six Counties, an all-party group has been established in Leinster House “to inform the development and delivery of the commemorative programme for the period 2012 to 2016” and beyond.

Even the British government has joined in, giving their NIO minister, Hugo Swire, responsibilities which include ‘commemorative initiatives for centenary anniversaries’.

Stormont, Leinster House and Westminster will re-interpret and rework the events of 100 years ago to suit their collective selfish, political and socio-economic agendas.

Their single, collective narrative will be to try and convince the Irish people that the Ireland of today is, indeed, the Ireland envisaged in 1916 and 1919.

That narrative will be framed within the context of the 1921 Treaty, the Good Friday and St Andrew’s Agreements, which reinforced and copper-fastened partition and contributed nothing to the political, social or economic advancement or well-being of the majority of Ireland’s citizens.

The Stormont and Leinster House elites which oversee partition, which have ensured the surrender of Irish sovereignty to Britain and the EU, which have factored mass unemployment, mass emigration and growing levels of poverty into their economic policies, have made it clear that the earth-shattering events of a century ago will be commemorated on their terms.

Having set out the terms for their commemorations, Stormont and Leinster House will make available funds for those establishments’ political figures, erstwhile historians and experts to re-work and re-write our history for the ‘benefit’ of future generations.

An example of the reshaping of history which we can expect to see, hear and read during the forthcoming ‘decade of centenaries’ was given by Bertie Ahern when he spoke at a Fianna Fáil commemoration for Liam Mellows a few years ago.


Mellows, in his time, was scathing of the type of moneyed interests which, decades after his execution, Ahern and many other leading political figures of various “republican” hues have now become so synonymous with.

Mellows had written: “It would be folly to destroy English tyranny in order to erect a domestic tyranny that would need another revolution to free the people. The Irish Republic stands, therefore, for the ownership of Ireland by the people of Ireland. It means that the means and process of production must not be used for the profit or aggrandisement of any group or class... the commercial interest, so called, money and the gombeen men are on the side of the Treaty, because the Treaty means Imperialism and England. We are back to Tone – and it is just as well – relying on that great body – ‘the men of no property’. The ‘stake in the country’ people were never with the Republic. They are not with it now – and they will always be against it.”

Ahern ignored those published views of Mellows and, without any hint of hypocrisy or semblance of shame, asserted, “I believe that Liam Mellows would recognise in today’s Ireland a country which has vindicated many of his principles.”

Mellows opposed the two partitionist states on this island; both of which were, and still remain, hostile to the interests of Irish workers; both of which have acted against the struggles and interests of the Irish working class time and time again.

The Ireland of today bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Republic envisaged by Liam Mellows and so many others.

We must re-assert that truth.

Republicans, socialists and other progressives must now begin making preparations to challenge and counter, at every opportunity, the forthcoming propaganda campaign of those who endorse partition and who maintain the unjust social and economic systems that have been created as a result.

The ‘official’ state narratives will not be aimed at presenting any accurate historic record or unbiased analysis, but will be designed to justify acceptance and approval of the status quo in Ireland today, particularly in relation to the six counties.

At present, right across Ireland, there are more ordinary people preoccupied by the daily personal struggles of coping with the severe economic policies implemented by Stormont and Leinster House than there are with partition.

In these difficult times, when families throughout Ireland face many economic difficulties, when people are naturally concerned and worried about the future, especially about employment prospects for the younger generation, we must again educate others into the nature of the republican struggle. We need to explain that the republican struggle is not based on a selfish or narrow-minded nationalism; it is about achieving real political freedom, it is about delivering social justice, it is about economic equality for all.


As Irish socialist republicans, we should again assert and explain to others, as Connolly so ably did, that “the Irish question is a social question, the whole age-long fight of the Irish people against their oppressors resolves itself, in the last analysis into a fight for the mastery of the means of life, the sources of production, in Ireland.”

We must strive to convince and persuade others that what is needed in Ireland is not a grudging acceptance or resentful tolerance of the status quo but a new Irish Republic, one which will re-unify the country and which will be qualitatively different from the Twenty-Six County and Six County states that have existed for just over 90 years.

There is no need to revise our history to do that. No need whatsoever.

That new Irish Republic is the same one visualised by those men and women of principle with their deep feelings for all humanity who, a century ago, envisioned an Ireland where the economy and the nation’s natural resources would be organised to serve all citizens and not just a wealthy minority; an independent and sovereign Republic, free from all external influences; a republic where all would have an opportunity to participate in society by having the opportunity to work; a republic where the employment of all would ensure that the elderly are properly cared for, the young people educated, the sick and the ill tended to, and a society developed which would appreciate and recognise the value of each one of its citizens, irrespective of their creed or gender.

Inscribed on a wall at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin are the words of ‘An Aisling’.

I ndorchacht an éadóchais rinneadh aisling dúinn.
Lasamar solas an dóchais agus níor múchadh é.
I bhfásach an lagmhisnigh rinneadh aisling dúinn.
Chuireamar crann na crógachta agus tháinig bláth air.
I ngeimhreadh na daoirse rinneadh aisling dúinn.
Mheileamar sneachta táimhe agus rith abhainn na hathbheochana as.
Chuireamar ár n-aisling ag snámh mar eala ar an abhainn. Rinneadh fírinne den aisling.
Rinneadh samhradh den gheimhreadh. Rinneadh saoirse den daoirse agus d'fhágamar agaibhse mar oidhreacht í.
A ghlúnta na saoirse cuimhnígí orainne, glúnta na haislinge.

In the darkness of despair we saw a vision,
We lit the light of hope and it was not extinguished.
In the desert of discouragement we saw a vision.
We planted the tree of valour and it blossomed.
In the winter of bondage we saw a vision.
We melted the snow of lethargy and the river of resurrection flowed from it.
We sent our vision aswim like a swan on the river. The vision became a reality.
Winter became summer. Bondage became freedom and this we left to you as your inheritance.
O generations of freedom remember us, the generations of the vision.


Republican, socialists and progressives must use this coming decade of centenaries to reclaim that vision and to share that revolutionary inheritance with others to finally create the generation of freedom.

Spooks in Failed Attempt to Recruit Newry Man to Spy on éirígí Member

Activities by the British state forces in Newry have taken a sinister twist after it emerged that covert undercover MI5/PSNI operatives are actively targeting éirígí’s Newry spokesperson Stephen Murney.

The revelations emerged after a neighbour of Stephen’s came forward to éirígí to make it known that he had been approached by plain clothed security force personnel who tried, unsuccessfully, to recruit him to work for them in gathering information on Stephen.

The build up to this approach began several weeks ago, when the victim, a family man, had to attend Ardmore PSNI barracks about a family matter, during which he had to provide his name and address.

Shortly afterwards the man had an early morning visit to his Derrybeg home by the PSNI accompanied by plain clothed personnel, who didn’t identify themselves. They claimed to be investigating a burglary in a nearby cul-de-sac but rather than make enquiries about the alleged burglary, they pressed the man to tell them how long he had lived at the address and how many people lived in his house along with a number of other personal non-related questions.

These questions immediately raised suspicions and the victim asked if would also they be calling to the rest of the houses in the street. They said they would, but after leaving his house, they immediately got into their vehicles and drove off, without making any more door to door enquiries as they stated.

Since that incident, it has come to light that there was no burglary as stated by the PSNI. Several residents in the small, quiet street where the burglary was alleged to have occurred have all stated that they had not heard of any such incident taking place.

That this was the only house visited in the street would suggest this wasn’t a normal door-to-door enquiry. It now seems this was an initial attempt to ‘suss out’ the individual before the next step in the process which took place a few weeks later.

On this occasion the man was walking down Hill Street in Newry on a Tuesday afternoon. A well dressed man wearing a suit approached him, called him by his name and referred to his attendance at Ardmore PSNI station a few weeks previously and asked him if the matter had been resolved. The victim, thinking this person was a PSNI member, replied yes, that as far as he was concerned it was resolved. The fact that the plain clothed individual failed to identify himself as a member of the PSNI would suggest that a more sinister agency was at play.

This unidentified individual then began questioning the victim about éirígí’s Stephen Murney, who lives close to him. The victim was asked if he had any information on Stephen that he would like to pass on. Quite sensibly, he replied that he didn’t know anything but just kept himself to himself. He was also quizzed about Stephen’s movements, activities and those who he associates with before being finally being asked if he would be willing to spy on Stephen and gather information for them. Stephen’s neighbour refused this request.

The unidentified state agent then menacingly made it known that he knew the victim had been speaking to Stephen in a city centre establishment located in Monaghan Street a few weeks beforehand. This would further confirm that the éirígí activist has already been placed under surveillance by state forces.

Speaking about the approach éirígí’s Rúnaí Ginearálta, Breandán Mac Cionnaith, said, “Stephen’s neighbour is to be commended for coming forward and making it known that these shadowy forces, unsuccessfully, attempted to pressurise him into gathering information on a member of an open political party.

“I have spoken with the man to whom these approaches were made and it’s clear that he was clearly unsettled by this whole episode.

“Stephen Murney is openly and actively engaged in legitimate political activities and in helping the community in Derrybeg and other parts of Newry. Like all members of our party, Stephen has nothing to hide. These cowardly sinister forces on the other hand are working in the shadows under cover and out of sight to target him and others.

“Incidents like this certainly won’t deter Stephen or any other éirígí activist. If anything, it proves that the political course we have chosen is correct.”

Breandán concluded, “This approach has since been recorded with the Committee on the Administration of Justice [CAJ] and the victim’s legal representatives.

“I would urge anyone who is approached in this manner, regardless of whether the approach is made by PSNI, MI5 operatives or both, to come forward and expose their ominous activities.”

 http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest050912.html

Lundy Family Letter

Copy of letter sent yesterday from Daniel Lundy to NGA (Belfast) Chairman Liam Shannon, regarding the omission of his father's name from the new Co.Antrim Memorial at Milltown. Please pass on.

3rd September 2012
Liam,

As Chairperson of National Graves Association (Belfast), I feel it is necessary to bring to your attention a matter that has caused our family undue suffering and distress.

My father, Alan Lundy, was a dedicated lifelong Republican activist. He was assassinated by a UFF death squad with the assistance of the British State on 1st May 1993, while working in the home of his friend and comrade Alex Maskey. At the time of his death he was a member of the McCaughey/Saunders Sinn Fein Cumann, and has been acknowledged at Tirghra and in Republican publications as also being an IRA Volunteer. He was also a former Republican POW.

While visiting my father’s grave, along with other family members recently, we decided to visit other graves of our patriot dead and also stopped to admire the newly erected County Antrim Memorial. To our astonishment and disgust the name of my father had been omitted. As well as the deep hurt that this has caused our family, it has also led to feelings of anger and betrayal. My father, who was a loving husband and has missed out on seeing his many grandchildren, dedicated and eventually sacrificed his life for the Republican struggle, and now NGA (Belfast) fail to see him worthy enough to have his name inscribed alongside our other patriot dead, including many of his friends and comrades from Ardoyne, The Bone and further afield.

At a recent meeting with Stormont Minister Gerry Kelly, on the separate matter of the internment of Alan’s son (also named Alan), he stated that as he viewed myself and my brother were, in his words, “political opponents of Sinn Fein” he and his party would be doing nothing to support our family in their campaign to have my brother released. As NGA (Belfast), as opposed to the nationwide National Graves Association, is led and directed by Sinn Fein members and to a Sinn Fein agenda, we have to ask does this snub now also extend to the memory of our father, husband and grandfather?

Alan Lundy, my father, was a lifelong member of the Republican Movement, as both an IRA Volunteer and Sinn Fein activist, until his assassination. To airbrush his contribution to the Republican Struggle, due to the political allegiances or lack of, of two of his sons is petty at best and purely vindictive at worst. But most of all it would a betrayal of the man himself and what he stood for, a courageous, dedicated and disciplined Republican who ultimately gave his life for his country, leaving behind his wife and five young children.

I look forward to hearing from you regarding this matter.

Daniel Lundy
(Son of Alan Lundy)

PSNI Target Charity Workers in Newry

éirígí in Newry have slammed the PSNI after they carried out a stop and search on a cancer charity vehicle and its occupants on Wednesday [August 29].

The vehicle was making a delivery just outside Newry when a PSNI patrol car, travelling towards them, conducted a u-turn and pursued them with sirens sounding and lights flashing.

The charity vehicle was pulled in by this very aggressive PSNI patrol, the occupants questioned and vehicle searched for unknown items.

éirígí’s Newry spokesperson Stephen Murney condemned the incident. He said, “Our party was contacted on Wednesday and the incident was reported to us. We spoke to the passenger of the charity van who told us of his shock and disgust at the conduct and attitude of the PSNI.

“This man has been unjustly targeted by the PSNI on a few occasions and it would appear that this was the sole excuse needed for the PSNI to aggressively stop and search this van, which I might add was clearly marked with signs on the front and sides which identified it as a cancer charity vehicle.

“This isn’t the first time the PSNI have targeted people involved in charity work in the Newry area. Only few months ago we highlighted another incident wherein a local man collecting sponsorship for another local charity found himself being stopped and searched in Hill Street and, on that occasion, the PSNI went as far as taking his sponsorship card from him. Shortly afterwards the same man was harassed while training for a marathon to raise much needed charity sponsorship funds.”

Murney concluded, “The victims in this latest incident were, at the time, working for the benefit of those less fortunate than themselves. They were engaging in charitable work yet they found themselves on the receiving end of state harassment. Both victims should be commended for the work they were doing, not persecuted and punished by the use of repressive laws.”

http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest020912.html

British Army K Club Stunt Will Be Opposed

Cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson has condemned the planned appearance of a British Army military band in the exclusive K Club as a “sickening public relations stunt”. Leeson has also confirmed that the socialist republican party will be actively opposing the October 5th event, which is being organised by the Security and Emergency Services Ireland Forum (SESIF) in conjunction with the Jack and Jill Foundation.

The format for the event will see a military band from the British Army’s Irish Guards regiment perform on the lawns of the K Club in front of spectators who will pay up to €200 per person for the privilege. While an entrance fee equivalent to more than a week’s dole may seem extravagant to most people, it is but pocket change to those who frequent the K Club, where a single night in the Imperial Suite costs a staggering €7,950!

Since its foundation in 2007 the SESIF has focused much of its energies on attempts to rehabilitate the image of Britain’s occupation forces in Ireland. It routinely organises events which include members of both the paramilitary PSNI and the British Army. For their part the Jack and Jill Foundation describe the history of the Irish Guards as “long and noble. A Regiment of foot guards formed by Queen Victoria in 1900 as her salute to the outstanding involvement of Irish Soldiers in the Boer War.” Those with a better grasp of history would question the nobility of war crimes, including the establishment of the world’s first concentration camps, which is exactly what the British did during the Boer War.

In more recent times the Irish Guards have inflicted a reign of terror on the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2003 the regiment was to the fore of the illegal invasion of Iraq, killing an unknown number of people in the conquest of the city of Basra. In one incident three members of the Irish Guards forced a fifteen-year-old into a canal before watching the boy, who was unable to swim, drown before their eyes. A noble history indeed.

Speaking from Dublin Brian Leeson said, “Those who have conspired to bring the British Army to the K Club are guilty of organising a sickening public relations stunt. The perversion of incorporating the British military into a fund-raising event for an Irish children’s charity will not be lost on the people of Ireland. The British military has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade. In one well documented case members of the Irish Guards were responsible for the drowning of a fifteen-year-old boy, Ahmed Jabar Karheem, in a canal in 2003.

“While it is no surprise that the SESIF are involved in organising a publicity stunt of this sort it is shocking that a children’s charity has lent its support to it. The parading of the British Army around the K Club will do nothing but cause division and distress to the victims of the British Army in Ireland. The British Army was directly and indirectly responsible for the murders of hundreds of Irish citizens over the last forty years. Has the Jack and Jill Foundation anything to say about that? Or has it anything to say to the parents or the siblings of those children who died at the hands of the British Army in Ireland? Has the Jack and Jill Foundation asked the relatives of those who died in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings what they think of their Irish Guards extravaganza?”

Leeson continued by outlining the true motives behind the K Club event, “Whether the Jack and Jill Foundation realise it or not, this event has nothing to do with reconciling relations between the peoples of Britain and Ireland or fundraising for charity. This stunt is just the latest attempt by Britain and her supporters in Ireland to normalise the occupation of the Six Counties.

“Like the royal visit last May it is designed to present a false image of normal relations between these two islands. And like that visit it serves only the interests of the ruling class here and in Britain. These lavish events in the banqueting halls of Dublin Castle and the K Club are nothing more than disgusting demonstrations of excess, where the rich and powerful come together to toast their own success and reaffirm the status quo.

“éirígí is calling on the Jack and Jill Foundation to withdraw their support for, and involvement in, the Irish Guards event at the K Club. They need to protect the integrity of their organisation and prevent it from being cynically used by those with ulterior motives. To do otherwise is to move out of the arena of charity and into the arena of politics, something which will inevitably cause division and reduce the level of support for the Jack and Jill Foundation.”

If you are opposed to the British Army’s presence in the K Club please contact the Jack and Jill Foundation and let them know how you feel:
  On Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Jack-and-Jill-Childrens-Foundation/295613613769
  By email: mailto:info@jackandjill.ie
  By Phone: (353) 45 - 894538/660

http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest310812_2.html