POW Rally 30th July

The family and friends group who are organising this rally are calling on everyone to make the effort to attend.


They are asking that all banners be non party political with no group logos and on the theme of political prisoners.

Seven bands are attending from England, Scotland and Ireland

Maghaberry Discussion a Huge Success

The Truth about Maghaberry discussion last night was a huge success. The room was filled to capacity with people having to stand at the back or sit on the steps to accommodate the large numbers in attendance. Every area of the republican prison struggle form 76 to the present struggle was covered...All the speakers were excellent and the Family and Friends group who organised the event would like to thank all those who spoke or helped in anyway but especially all those who took the time to attend. It is very clear to everyone that support for the POWs on protest is growing !! Go Raibh Maith Agat.

Below is a short video of the large crowd, one of Eamonn McCann speaking which i have to say he spoke extremely well, and another of an ex-POW speaking. The last video is of Roisin Lynch speaking, Roisin is the partner of Brendan Lillis

PSNI absent as Drumcree Orangemen attempt illegal march

In a statement last night, the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition has accused the PSNI of colluding with the Orange Order in Portadown in an attempt to create a confrontation with nationalist residents. A spokesperson for the GRRC said:

"Last week, the Parades Commission issued a determination in respect of a proposed march by members of the Orange Order from Drumcree which was planned for yesterday evening (Wednesday). Despite the PSNI being aware of that determination which ruled that the Orangemen could not proceed beyond the bridge at Drumcree, no PSNI personnel were present to enforce the Commission's ruling.

"As result, over 30 members of Portadown LOL No.1 were able to make their way for over 300 yards from Drumcree church before 8.00pm to the edge of the nearby nationalist Ballyoran estate before stopping to block traffic.

"It was only as nationalist residents came from their homes that the PSNI arrived on the scene.

"One is forced to conclude that, although being aware of the planned Orange protest march and the Parades Commission ruling in respect of the same, the PSNI deliberately choose to ignore both the Orange protest march and the restrictions placed upon it. The only explanation for this is that both the PSNI and the Orange Order had hoped to draw nationalist residents into physical confrontation,

" The Parades Commission, who have been made aware of other breaches of its determinations in respect of other loyal order parades in recent weeks in Portadown, must ask for a clear explanation as to why the PSNI choose to ignore or enforce a legally binding determination last night in Portadown"

ENDS

The Truth about Maghaberry

Thursday 28th July,

St Mary's Training college, Falls Road, Belfast. 7.30 pm

Discussion around the POWs on protest in Maghaberry,

Speakers:

John Finnucane,

Eamonn Mc Cann,

Brendan Conway,

Kevin Murphy,

Roisin Lynch,

Chairperson, Maura Mc Crory

After this event there will be a function in the Red Devil with Ray McAreavey.

Tickets are available but you can pay at the door. £5.00

Derrybeg Supports the POWs

The following was painted by republican activists and is situated on Sandys Hill in the Derrybeg estate.

It measures 80ft x 60ft and draws attention to the horrific forced strip searches that republican prisoners have to endure in Maghaberry

Davy Hyland Demands Immediate Release of Brendan Lillis‏

Independent Republican councillor Davy Hyland has expressed his deep concern at the condition of Brendan Lillis and has called for his immediate release from Maghaberry prison.
Brendan Lillis is a former blanketman and IRA POW. He served around 16 years for possession of explosives and firearms. In 1992 BL, as he was known to his friends and comrades, was released on license. Brendan is now a Prisoner in Maghaberry Gaol after the British secretary of state revoked his license which means he is once again a lifer serving time for IRA actions carried out in the 1970s.

Brendan suffers from the debilitating arthritic illness ankylosing spondylitis and his family say he is close to death, weighing only 5.5 stone and having only weeks to live. His partner has pleaded for support as she watches Brendan slowly die. He can no longer speak or move, and is confined to his bed, in a prison cell with no windows.

Hyland said: “The British Justice Minister and David Ford and British secretary of state Owen Paterson have adopted an almost “Thatcherite” approach when it comes to prisoners in Maghaberry. David Ford refuses to budge over the implementation of the agreement reached last August and the British secretary of state has revoked the licences of various republicans such as Marian Price, Martin Corey and Brendan Lillis”

“It’s ironic that exactly 30 years ago 10 Republicans died on Hunger strike because of the British government’s refusal to recognise their basic rights and today Republican prisoners in Maghaberry find themselves in the same situation”

“Brendan Lillis has been in bed for over 600 days and for the British to claim he is a threat to anyone is totally absurd. This man is a threat to no-one and should be immediately released.”

On Saturday 23rd July Davy Hyland along with fellow republicans from Newry travelled to Belfast to show their support for Brendan Lillis, his partner Roisin and family by attending a protest at the former Andersonstown barracks site. The protest consisted of Brendan’s partner, former Blanketmen, ex-POWs and supporters taking part in a 3 day hunger strike.

Davy concluded: “I would call on everyone with an interest in human rights to support the campaign to have Brendan released immediately. I urge everyone to attend protests, pickets, sign petitions, and follow Brendan’s campaign on Facebook. Families of those involved in the 1981 hunger strike, including the family of Bobby Sands, have called for the immediate release of Brendan. At this difficult time let’s remember Bobby’s famous words “everyone republican or otherwise has their own particular part to play, no part is too great and no part is too small”.

Press Release on behalf of Families of 1981 Hunger Strikes

Great to see the families of the hungerstrikers supporting the Republican POWs in Maghaberry

“On 20th August 1981, Michael Devine died in prison, the last of ten republican prisoners to die in the Hunger Strike.

Today, nearly thirty years later, another republican, Brendan Lillis is dying in Maghaberry Prison because of the same refusal of government authorities to govern with humanity, compassion, respect for human dignity and in compliance with International Human Rights standards and obligations. Brendan is not on hunger strike. He is being denied appropriate medical care he needs to survive.

Marian Price is also in Maghaberry, in solitary confinement in a Male prison despite being granted bail. Other prisoners are routinely humiliated and violated by strip searching. Once again, Human Rights don’t apply to ‘these’ people.

The 1998 Agreement promised a Human Rights framework and Bill of Rights to ensure people here would never again be deemed ineligible for protection of their rights because of their politics or actions.

Confronted with a humanitarian crisis in Maghaberry prison, as families of those who died in prison on the 1981 Hunger Strikes, and as members of the H-Block Campaign who supported them at that time, we call upon the conscience of the people to urgently support:

* Roisin Lynch in her demand for the immediate release of her life partner, Brendan.

* The Price family in their demand for Marian Price to be released on Bail

We further call upon the N. I. Executive and Minister of Justice at Stormont to bring an immediate end to strip-searching in the prisons and the continued tolerance of humiliation and violation of the basic human rights of political prisoners.

ENDS

(Editor note: The statement is fully endorsed on behalf of the Sands, Devine, Hurson, McDonnell and O’Hara families, and supported by Bernadette McAliskey, (formerly National H-Block Committee), Tommy McKearney( 1980 Hunger Strike) & Sean McGlinchey (former political prisoner). Further signatures will be sought

The Felons club refuse entry for a collecton for BL

This is currently doing the rounds on a number of websites, very sad state of affairs if you ask me

"The Felons club and the PD have refused the Brendan Lillis campaigners permission to collect for his cause on their premises.

These clubs have traded off the backs of the armed struggle for decades and now turn their backs on a former 'dog' and blanket man facing death, just to protect the ego of their precious leader. I ask all republicans and performers of conscience to stay away from these anti republican hovels!"

Release Brendan Lillis Now

Rúnaí ginearálta éirígí Breandán Mac Cionnaith has called for the immediate release of Brendan Lillis as the Belfast man’s partner yesterday [Thursday] began a hunger strike in protest against his continued incarceration.
Lillis, who previously served 16 years as a political prisoner, has been held in Maghaberry jail since 2009 when the British secretary of state revoked his release license after he appeared in court on unrelated charges. Despite the fact that these charges have not been proceeded with and that Lillis is seriously ill, he has not been given a release date.

Lillis is suffering from the debilitating arthritic illness ankylosing spondylitis which, his partner – Roisin Lynch – says, has left him with possibly only weeks to live.

Lynch today began a hunger strike in protest at Lillis’ continued imprisonment at the Andersonstown barracks site in west Belfast.

Mac Cionnaith said: “The continued imprisonment of Brendan Lillis, a seriously ill man who may have only weeks left to live, is callous in the extreme.

“Brendan has consistently been denied adequate medical attention by the prison authorities in Maghaberry, while the distress for both him and his family has been heightened by the conditions he is forced to endure.

“The initial charge against Brendan was not proceeded with due to his illness. It is ridiculous therefore that he is held in prison because of a political offence he was charged with in the 1970s – an alleged offence for which he already served a long, long time.”

Mac Cionnaith added: “The plight of Brendan Lillis raises the wider issue of the British secretary of state’s ability to incarcerate republican ex-prisoners who have been released on license. At present, Belfast woman Marion Price and Lurgan man Martin Corey are also being held in Maghaberry on the whim of Owen Paterson.

“This situation is intolerable and an effective opposition must be built against it.”

Mac Cionnaith concluded: “At this difficult time, éirígí extends its solidarity to Brendan, to his courageous partner Roisin and to all his family.

“Brendan Lillis must not be allowed to die in jail. The British government and David Ford must take the only humane course of action and release him immediately.”

http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest220711.html

Newry Irish Night in Aid of Maghaberry POWs

All groups and individuals welcome to this independent event

GARC Video

Here's another video of the GARC civil rights march. Some people wrongly claim that GARC are made up of  "dissident micro-groups" that have have no support. Nothing could be further than the truth

PSNI failed to address core issues of concern to Portadown nationalists

The Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition (GRRC) has described as “defensive PR spin” a media statement issued by PSNI Superintendent Jason Murphy in relation to Friday night’s loyalist violence in Portadown.

A spokesperson for the GRRC said, “Supt Murphy’s statement issued at Saturday’s press conference in Portadown’s Mahon Road base was a defensive PR spin aimed downplaying the organised nature of Friday night’s violent events in the town.

“Supt Murphy stated that ‘No homes within the Nationalist community were directly attacked although we (the PSNI) are aware of some damage being caused from missiles thrown into the area of Obins Street.’

“Residents, living adjacent to the peaceline/interface, can confirm that their homes did come under attack from an organised loyalist mob throwing bricks, bottles, paint-bombs, fireworks and, more sinisterly, at least one blast bomb.

“Supt Murphy’s statement noticeably does not address several core questions of concern:

• Why was an openly intimidatory gathering of masked loyalists permitted to be held immediately adjacent to the main peace-line/interface in Portadown?

• Given the previous violent history of so-called loyalist ‘peaceful protests’ at the Corcrain Road/Charles St/Craigwell Avenue/Obins Drive and Avenue interface, how did the PSNI conclude that a gathering of masked loyalists immediately beside that interface could in anyway be deemed either wise, acceptable or justifiable under Public Order legislation?

• Why has there been no acknowledgement by the PSNI that at least one blast-bomb type device was thrown by those same masked men towards homes in Obins Drive and Obins Avenue?

• Why is the PSNI reluctant to confirm the widely-held view within the nationalist community in Portadown that Friday’s so-called ‘peaceful protest’ was organised by the Mid-Ulster UVF?

• Why PSNI officers were clearly observed by nationalist residents to be engaging in either conversation, or negotiations, with three masked, and one unmasked, leaders of that loyalist mob?

“Previous loyalist protests held adjacent to Craigwell Avenue some years ago, and which were also deemed ‘peaceful’ by the police, resulted in almost one third of the nationalist families in that street fleeing their homes permanently. Since then, a number of Portuguese-speaking families have moved into Craigwell bringing a new vitality to it. However, those families have now also fallen victim to loyalist intimidation, as demonstrated on July 12th and July 15th.

“Unfortunately, Supt Murphy’s statement would appear to demonstrate a policy appeasement towards, and a denial of, loyalist intimidation and violence directed towards those living within nationalist areas of Portadown.”

Annual Orgy of Sectarianism Highlighted in Ardoyne

For the last five years, father-of-one Paul McCauley has lain in a coma caused by severe brain injuries.

In July 2006, Paul was attending a going-away barbeque for a friend in Derry’s Waterside area when he and his companions were set upon by a unionist mob. The provocation? Paul and some of his friends were catholic. The perpetrators? The UDA, an organisation alleged to be on ceasefire.

Now, Paul’s father is battling to ensure the only man convicted in relation to the brutal attack – on charges of causing grievous bodily harm – also stands trial for attempted murder.

About Paul, Jim McCauley says: “He is now as he was just hours after the attack. He remains in a minimum responsive state without communication. The left side of his skull is missing [his brain is covered by skin] and he has been diagnosed as being totally blind.

“Doctors have told us this is the way it is going to be. We are now gradually acclimatising ourselves to the fact that this is how it’s going to be. The best we can do is care for Paul, who exists at a low level.”

Half a decade on from the Waterside attack, another unionist mob, this time in the form of the UVF – another organisation alleged to be on ceasefire – descended on the Short Strand area of Belfast in a clearly premeditated act of sectarian savagery.

Among the casualties in this incident was another young catholic, hospitalised with bleeding to the brain after having a breeze block dropped on his head.

This is the price nationalists and, increasingly, foreign nationals in the Six Counties have to pay for the Orange Order’s annual festival of hatred, which cranks up feelings of enmity and bigotry to life threatening levels.

In Ardoyne on July 12, the concoction of elements who conspire to foist Orangeism’s ‘celebrations’ on the whole of society had created yet another nightmare scenario for this isolated nationalist community.

Firstly, the Six County Parades Commission, as it does every year, gave the Orange Order permission to march past Ardoyne shops in complete contradiction of the wishes of local residents.

Secondly, the PSNI deployed the full range of its paramilitary paraphernalia to hem the people of Ardoyne into their homes to ensure the bigoted brethren could walk their route unimpeded by any troublesome croppies.

And, last but not least, the Orange Order, the unionist political parties and their death squads gratefully accepted this facilitation by state agencies and gleefully strutted over the rights of an entire community.

What they didn’t bank upon was the residents of Ardoyne demonstrating in a unified, determined manner that they wouldn’t be treated as second class citizens. Hundreds of them took to the streets in a march organised by the Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective that was attended by many éirígí activists.

As can be seen in the video that is along with this article, the determination of the residents to remain peaceful and dignified in the face of massive provocation stands in stark contrast to the violence first, questions later policy of the PSNI.

Ardoyne is increasingly the epicentre of a sectarianism that, this year, also reared its ugly head in Ballyclare, Ballymena, Bangor, Carrickfergus, Magherafelt, Portadown, Short Strand and elsewhere. And Ardoyne, like some many times in the past, has also shown the way in how to combat this sectarianism – with dignified, militant protest and a complete refusal to be treated as anything other than a first class citizen.

http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest150711.html

Families & Friends POW Rally 30th July

The Prisoners Rally on the 30th July is gaining momentum, bands from Scotland, Liverpool, and six counties have all confirmed their taking part. Generic posters will be provided on the day by the organisers and local Banners welcome 'no' Party logo's please.

Following on from the planned March in support of the republican prisoners on Sat the 30th July in Belfast,the Family and Friends support group have organised an evening of music and craic in the Shamrock Ardoyne, all welcome and you can pay at door. Bands will be in attendance on the night. Lets make that weekend a successful weekend in support of our POWs

GARC Statemet Read at Civil Rights March

Greater Ardoyne Residents’ Collective Statement

July 12th 2011

First of all we would like to thank everyone for attending this parade this evening. The purpose of this parade was to highlight the fact that once again, as has been the case so often since the foundation of the state, Ardoyne residents have been treated as second class citizens by the state and its agents within quangoes such as the Parades Commission and their militias in the RUC, PSNI and British Army. The overriding reason behind this repression has been the fact that our community is overwhelmingly Catholic, Nationalist and Republican in its make up.

For the first time ever, members of this community applied to hold a peaceful and dignified parade on the 12th of July to assert our right to live free from sectarian harassment and not to be treated as second class citizens. The result being that the Parades Commission has denied us access to part of our community, while allowing the sectarian Orange Order to triumphantly march through our area with banners commemorating murderers involved in the killings of our loved ones.

In their determination the Parades Commission state that those who actually live here should be able to live, work, shop, trade and carry on business in the area, as a right under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is quite clear to those gathered here in Ardoyne today and this evening that this right, and others are being denied to us, not least the right to protest.

We have also been told that this community must have due regard for the rights and traditions of the Orange Order and the Protestant Community. Let us once again reiterate that we are not sectarian and the Orange Order have a right to march, where they are welcome and appreciated. However due to their anti-Catholic ethos and sectarianism they are certainly not welcome in Ardoyne.

One thing that Loyal Order Parades inevitably highlight is the one sided nature of Justice in the Six Counties. A number of our young people have recently been imprisoned for terms of up to four years, after allegedly getting involved in disorder following last years Orange parade on the 12th July. Contrast this with the treatment of loyalists involved in protests in areas of South East Antrim, Rathcoole and Asda on the Shore Road. We have also saw the UVF attack the Short Strand in their hundreds, and rather than arrests and prosecutions, they received tea and biscuits at Stormont.

There are those who would put the blame for any negative consequences of Loyal Order parades, for the last 40 years or so, back onto the residents of Ardoyne. Can we make it absolutely clear that we have been consistent in stating that we want people to protest in a peaceful and dignified way, as engaging in any other activity may deflect the blame away from where it really lies – with those who demand to march, those in the Parades Commission who permit them and the PSNI, British Army and others who facilitate them.

To conclude let us be absolutely emphatic in stating that the people of Ardoyne have opposed sectarianism in various guises, be it Loyalist paramilitaries, institutionalised sectarianism in state agencies and unwanted bigoted parades by loyal orders for generations. We will continue to protest until we receive our fundamental right to live free from intimidation and sectarian harassment. We are going nowhere, we live here, and this is our community.

As Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King said, “Justice delayed is justice denied. In the end we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Dee Fennell

GARC

Ardoyne Demand Civil Rights

The 12th July has come and gone and once again the people of Ardoyne are placed under siege in their own community by the British police.

Local residents group GARC held a civil rights march and ironically were blocked from marching on Ardoynes Crumlin Rd.

Hundreds upon hundreds of people took part in GARC's civil rights march, this seems to have people in some quarters worried as it was previously claimed that GARC had no support. Indeed following the GARC march these same people claimed that only 100 people took part in GARC's march. I have posted the video below that rubbishes that claim.

In the run up to the 12th the usual suspects engaged in the usual felon setting. Claiming that GARC were hell bent on causing trouble. Yet GARC had called for trouble makers to stay away.

On another related issue, Gerry Kelly MLA asserts that he nor S/F had NO prior knowledge or influence of the RUC/PSNI operation to hem in and seal off Ardoyne from the Crumlin Road and Mountainview areas.


A number of Mountainview residents have informed GARC that they witnessed Mr. Kelly being informed by fellow S/F members that the GARC march had just commenced on the Berwick Road @ 7pm. He was also informed about the sequence of GARC's substantial march by two so-called 'Independant Observers' who shadowed GARC's parade for Civil Rights. These two Observers; were New Lodge SF member, John Loughran and Stormont Candidate, J.J. Magee. Gerry then immediately walked across the top of Estorial Park and spoke at length to a senior PSNI woman. The same woman was then heard to issue an order over the radio to her riot-clad members to immediately seal off Estorial and Brompton Parks quickly followed by two water cannons and a number of RUC Land Rovers! As well as, the Ardoyne Road shop roofs....

Within three minutes of arriving in Estorial Pk, the rebranded RUC attacked local people who had been waiting for the arrival of the GARC march. They beat them into Balhome Drive and proceeded to fire around a dozen Plastic Bullets and also deployed the Water Cannon on unsuspecting residents. These facts have been confirmed by the Parish Priest, Fr. Gary, Alban McGuinnes MLA and by the countless Journalists at the scene.

Finally the civil rights march got underway with anything between 800-1,000 people winding their way through the narrow Ardoyne streets. Unable to march any further due to the massive "security operation" they were then addressed by GARC spokesperson Dee Fennell (i'll post his speech shortly).

After the GARC march had dispersed there then ensued some serious rioting. This rioting came about as the result of Ardoyne residents being denied the right to walk on their own streets and also because of the PSNI forcing an Orange march through the area by hemming in residents and shooting them with plastic bullets and water cannons.

The Ardoyne residents and everyone who came to support them are to be commended for demanding civil rights.

Here's a video of the large crowds marching for civil rights ( some claimed only 100 were in attendence, i'll let you make your own minds up)

From what i can see it looks like former comrades have lost their grip on the republican stronghold of Ardoyne, much the same as they lost their grip on certain republican strongholds in Newry.


No doubt they will slabber about election results and mandates the same way as the stoops before them did. But they know fine well that grassroots on the ground is worth more than any amount of votes

We are on the rise

National Hunger Strike March- 21st August

Maghaberry Debate and Hunger-strike Exhibition

The Family and Friends support group of republican POWs, Maghaberry have organised a debate around the current situation in Maghaberry and a hunger-strike exhibition to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Hunger Strikes.
Maghaberry Debate and Hunger-strike Exhibition

Thursday 28th July, ...7.30 pm

St Mary's Training College

Falls Road

(speakers to be confirmed)

The Friends and Family group are also in the process of organising a march to support the POWs on Saturday 30th July, Belfast.

Details will be announced as soon as they are confirmed.

We are calling for everyone to make the effort to attend this march.

VICTORY TO THE POWs.

Newry Protest against MI5 & PSNI Harassment

Once again republicans have been forced to take to the streets to stand up against MI5/PSNI harassment in Newry.

Over 70 people took part in yesterday’s [July 2] protest at Ardmore PSNI barracks in Newry, in direct response to a relentless campaign of harassment and intimidation directed towards republicans in the area by the PSNI.

The protesters were met with a large presence of PSNI thugs in several cars, armoured landrovers and on foot around the barracks, obviously fearful of éirígí’s intentions.

For the duration of the protest the PSNI videoed and recorded everyone, including children, some of whom were stopped and searched last weekend.

Speaking at the protest éirígí’s Stephen Murney thanked all those who attended.“Just a few months ago we were forced to come to this barracks to protest against harassment, now here we are again with double the numbers. At a time when people are being persecuted by the PSNI and MI5 it’s heartening to see so many people, young and old coming here to confront the thugs responsible for harassing them. Last week we announced that we would intensify our Different Name, Same Aim campaign, this protest is only the start of things to come,” Murney said.

The main speaker at the protest was rúnaí ginearálta éirígí Breandán Mac Cionnaith.

In his speech Breandán highlighted the unchanged nature of the force.

“In November 2001, amid much fanfare, the British government re-branded the discredited Royal Ulster Constabulary with a new name. And with that new name, the occupying power promised ‘a new beginning’ to policing in the Six Counties.“Almost a decade later, it is now abundantly clear that, instead of delivering a ‘new beginning’, the PSNI has simply continued with the same failed anti-working class and anti-republican agenda of the RUC and Royal Irish Constabulary before them. The lie of ‘community-based’ policing has been exposed by the reality of increased draconian legislation, harassment and brutality,” he said.

Mac Cionnaith continued, “éirígí activists in Newry are no strangers to Crown Force harassment. Our activists, along with other republicans are being stopped under the draconian British Justice and Security Act. It’s clear that our activists and supporters in the area are being singled out for special treatment because of their political activities.

“The PSNI are only proving by their own actions that they are an unchanged, unaccountable paramilitary force. The PSNI remains a British police force, enforcing British law in support of the British occupation.

“No amount of PSNI harassment, in Newry or anywhere else, will prevent éirígí activists from continuing the work of rebuilding the republican struggle.

”Breandán concluded, “Despite what those constitutional nationalist parties who sit in Stormont may claim, that move has neither affected the function or the form of the PSNI. Nor has it placed manners on them, as one prominent apologist for British policing once claimed.

“The PSNI remains a British police force, enforcing British law in support of the British state. Like police forces across the capitalist world its primary aim remains the protection of the state and the protection of the interests of the ruling class; interests which run in direct contradiction to the interests of the working class and of republicans.”

Republican Newry will be seeing a lot more actions in the coming weeks and months and we urge all those who oppose British policing to join us in our struggle

http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest030711.html

Collusion and Cover-up – a truth not to be revealed

It was the summer of 1994 and the date was June 18th. In a scene replicated across the 32 counties that Saturday night, locals gathered in their local bar to watch as the World Cup match between Ireland and Italy was played out in the Giants Stadium in New York. The final whistle blew to mark an Irish victory and tens of thousands of soccer fans celebrated a momentus win.

 

The post-match jubilation and banter in the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, County Down, would have been no different to that experienced elsewhere.

 

Within minutes, all that was changed as pro-British paramilitaries entered the small rural pub. Those inside had no chance as two gunmen opened fire with automatic assault rifles. As the gunmen fled, six men - Adrian Rogan (34), Malcolm Jenkinson (52), Barney Greene (87), Daniel McCreanor (59), Patrick O'Hare (35) and Eamon Byrne (39) – lay dead or dying. Five more were wounded.

 

No-one has ever been convicted of the brutal sectarian rampage which devastated the quiet village of Loughinisland and left nine children without a father.

 

In the six year period from 1988 to 1994, Relatives for Justice documented 229 murders by British controlled unionist death squads in which collusion was either evidenced or suspected due to a combination of factors from threats by British state forces during detentions at special interrogation centres, the weapons used in murders provided by the British state, British state held intelligence files being passed on to unionist death squads.

 

Among those 229 murders were those of Kathleen O’Hagan in Tyrone shot in her home when she was seven months pregnant, her husband Paddy finding his five children huddled around their mother’s dead body on returning home; Charlie and Teresa Fox murdered in their home in the Moy; Sean Lavery at his North Belfast home; Teresa Clinton shot dead in her own living room in South Belfast; Lurgan republican, Sam Marshall, shot dead minutes after leaving Lurgan RUC barracks which he had to attend as part of his bail conditions; Tyrone pensioner Roseanne Mallon murdered while a covert British army unit observed the murder and did not to intervene; Sean Browne, the 61 year old chairman of the Wolfe Tone GAA club in Bellaghy, County Derry, abducted as he locked up the clubrooms and whose lifeless body was found with 6 bullet wounds less than an hour later; brothers Gerard and Rory Cairns shot dead in their family home at the Bleary, outside Portadown, in front of their 11 year old sister.

 

There are countless other examples, over many decades, of official British State collusion through the strategic control of scores of agents within unionism by the Force Research Unit of British Military Intelligence and the RUC’s Special Branch. The fifteen men, women and children who died in the bombing of McGurk’s Bar in 1971, the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 which claimed the lives of 33 innocent people whose ages ranged from five months to eighty years are other examples of that policy.

 

Despite all the evidence gathered over the years by the victims’ families or by human rights groups and solicitors working on their behalf, the British state still refuses to admit any culpability in all those cases and continues to ensure that the truth regarding its forces and agents roles remain hidden.

 

On Friday, 24th June, the Six County Police Ombudsman, Al Hutchinson, published his report into the Loughinisland Massacre. Media speculation in recent months had built up the hopes of the families that Hutchinson would find that there had, in fact, been collusion between state forces and the killers responsible for the Loughinisland attack.

 

However, the families’ hopes were cruelly dashed. Instead, Hutchinson glossed over the facts in order to extend the cover-up, which had been in existence from 1994, even further. The ombudsman's report had been delayed on several occasions. It was scheduled for publication in 2009 but was postponed "for several weeks" after new material, discovered by the families, came to light.

 

There were several more delays and towards the end of last year, a member of the RUC/PSNI was arrested and questioned over perverting the course of justice and withholding information. To the consternation of the Loughinisland families, the Public Prosecution Service said it would not be proceeding with a court case against the man.

 

The families said they were prompted to ask the Six County Police Ombudsman to investigate after revelations that linked the gang with at least four persons who were either agents of Special Branch or of British military intelligence. The families were also concerned that the getaway car used by the killers was destroyed by RUC/PSNI months after the shootings and not retained for evidential purposes.

 

The Loughinisland Justice Group has publicly pointed out the following facts which still remain unanswered:

• Murders sanctioned by UVF leader, who the media has alleged as being a Special Branch agent
• The car used in the attack was supplied by another RUC agent from North Belfast’s Mount Vernon UVF
• The murder inquiry team did not arrest or interview this agent
• Getaway car, weapons, ammunition, boiler-suits, balaclavas – including a hair follicle - and gloves – a forensic treasure trove – all found intact, yet not one person ever charged.
• Indeed, the getaway car destroyed soon after by RUC - forensic opportunities lost forever.
• RUC officer perverted the course of justice by passing on the details of an eyewitness to a relative of a main suspect
• Failure to arrest main suspect despite information received immediately after the attack
• Major delay of up to 3-years in making arrests after new forensic evidence received
• A litany of forensic failings including no DNA samples of main suspects.
• No proper forensic examination of murder scene
• No forensic examination of scene of where the getaway car is left
• Original interview notes of key suspects destroyed by the police
• Weapons used are supplied by MI5 to loyalists via Brian Nelson
• Same weapons were used in further 3 murders and 3 attempted murders
• RUC – PSNI & Police Ombudsman refuse to say which murders and attacks
• Senior RUC Investigating Officer involved in Loughinisland murder inquiry refused to cooperate with Police Ombudsman – why?
• British Government provided Royal Prerogative of Mercy to one of the suspected killers concerning his involvement in other serious crimes

What is also public knowledge, although also completely unacknowledged in the Ombudsman’s Loughinisland report is that:

• in September 1994 there were 814 officers in RUC Special Branch, yet the role of Special Branch or its agents go unmentioned;
• that by 1994 Special Branch had heavily penetrated the UVF;
•  that the Loughinisland attack was mounted by the UVF;
• that, as in the murders of Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson, Special Branch deliberately withheld and concealed information.

Since publication of the Six County Police Ombudsman’s report just a week ago, it has emerged that one of the Loughinisland murder weapons, a VZ 58 rifle, was also used in a multiple murder attempt in Belfast in October 1993 which left one man, Joseph Reynolds, dead and two others seriously wounded. Furthermore, the Special Branch agent, known as “the Mechanic”, has been identified as having been directly in this and the Loughinisland attacks.

 

Yet, the outcome of Hutchinson’s report should not have come as any real surprise. He has previously been openly criticised by victims’ families, including those who lost loved ones in the McGurk’s bombing.

 

Indeed, only a few weeks ago on June 6th, the Committee on the Adminstration of Justice [CAJ], the long standing Belfast-based human rights organisation, published a report of its’ own investigation into the conduct of the Six County Police Ombudsman’s Office. www.caj.org.uk/files/2011/06/16/OPONI_report_final1.pdf

 

The CAJ stated that it was prompted to do so as a result of many concerns which had been raised about the capacity of the Ombudsman’s office to investigate historic cases due to the length of time taken, the quality of the reports it has published, and the conclusions reached.

 

CAJ also stated that, “The most recent reports into historic cases published by the Office of the Police Ombudsman have contributed towards a questioning of the Office’s ability and commitment to undertake robust and impartial analysis. A growing lack of confidence in the Office is further exacerbated by the experiences and perceptions of some of those who have referred complaints to OPONI, in particular, those families involved in historic cases due to the death of a loved one.”

 

CAJ expressed concerns about “the lack of any clear definition or consistent application of the term collusion in a number of recent historic investigations involving allegations of collusion. Furthermore, there is no explanation as to why different aspects of collusion are engaged with in different investigations. This discrepancy leaves the Office open to allegations that a different standard of ‘collusion test’ is utilised given the specific circumstances of the investigation, which could in turn raise questions about the real and/or perceived impartiality of the Office.”

 

Further concerns were highlighted by the CAJ “in relation to recent reports on historic number of recent reports, the Police Ombudsman states that ‘collusion may or may not involve a criminal act’ followed by the assertion that ‘the Police Ombudsman may only investigate and report on matters of alleged police criminality or misconduct.’ However, a criminal act is criminality and therefore if a collusive act is criminal it would constitute criminality and should be found as such. Likewise, a collusive act that may not be criminal may constitute misconduct. The absence of a definition of collusion, and the subsequent excessively narrow interpretation of criminality or misconduct therein, therefore becomes problematic and contradictory. An unduly restrictive approach such as that adopted in the most recent reports also ignores the cumulative impact of a range of activities which regarded individually may appear relatively minor, but which, when taken in combination, are much more serious.”

 

More damning, however, were the CAJ’s concerns surrounding intelligence and the lack of independence from the PSNI.

 

CAJ pointed out that as a result of the process of accessing intelligence regarding historic cases, there were a number of steps in the process where ‘gatekeepers’, in whose interests it may be for the full truth to remain hidden, can significantly limit and control access to intelligence without detection.

 

CAJ’s concerns included:

• “The fact that most, if not all, historic intelligence material is provided by the PSNI Intelligence Branch (C3) is of concern. It is unclear how many former Special Branch officers are located throughout the specialist branches of Crime Operations and what percentage of total officers they constitute. Given that former Special Branch officers would have substantial years of service and intelligence experience, it is likely these officers occupy pivotal positions with respect to intelligence and security policing.”
• “All of this is relevant to the work.....on historic cases, since it means that the Ombudsman’s Office is reliant on intelligence efforts undertaken by former RUC (and Special Branch) officers, despite the fact that many of the most serious allegations of human rights abuses may involve allegations of improper RUC/Special Branch behaviour.”

The CAJ report also examined Al Hutchinson’s appointment to the post of Ombudsman and had concerns about “apparent irregularities in the 2007 recruitment process that raise questions about political interference in, and thus the independence of, the Office and believes that these issues should be addressed transparently and urgently..”

 

Against this background, there was little hope that the families who lost loved ones at Loughinisland, in the bombing of McGurk’s bar, or in many other cases, could ever expect the truth.

 

So it was, too, with the inquiry into the murder of Rosemary Nelson. Despite all the evidence available to it to the contrary, it also concluded there had been no collusion.

 

No British constructed inquiry and no British controlled Ombudsman will ever allow the truth about collusion to be told.

 

That is why the full Stevens’ report into collusion, which runs to well over 3,000 pages, will never be published.

 

To admit or acknowledge that collusion with, and direction of, unionist death-squads has been an integral part of British counter-insurgency policy in Ireland would bring a global spotlight to bear on the darkest, murkiest and bloodiest secrets of Britain’s dirty war of occupation in the Six Counties.

 

That is something that the British government cannot afford and will not permit.

 

But Britain does not stand alone in that regard. There are others within the political establishments in both jurisdictions on this island who have invested much time, energy and propaganda in creating the myth of a new, reformed Six Counties. They have thrown their full support behind the PSNI, while turning a blind eye to the continuing and increased activities of MI5 and covert British military units such as the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, and they have heralded the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Stormont administration as the dawn of a new era. They also stand to lose if the full extent of collusion was to emerge.

 

 http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest300611.html

 

Protest Against Harassment

Protest against ongoing MI5 and PSNI harassment of republicans, organised by éirígí. Saturday 2nd July. Ardmore PSNI barracks, Belfast Road, Newry, 2pm

RUC/PSNI Resort to Child Abuse

Yesterday i was at home when i received a message from an RNU comrade in Belfast. He told me that a bus full of women and children, returning from a day trip to Dublin were they visited Kilmainham Gaol,was stopped by the PSNI outside Banbridge. He explained to me that the kids on the bus were terrified after being seperated from their parents and that if any of us in Newry could go out and assist them.

Immediately local republicans travelled the short distance to see if we could help the victims, in particular the children.

As we got close to the scene it quickly became clear that there was little or no hope of us getting anywhere near the bus as we were faced with a massive presence of heavily armed militia members and British soldiers. they had the bus pulled off the motorway and then into a secluded layby hidden from view. Hundreds of motorists that drove past would have been oblivious to the terror that women and children as young as 4 years old were going through.

Here is what the outraged parents of the children had to say about the incident:

21 Children, Women and Men, returning to Belfast from a Sunday trip to Killmhanam Gaol were pulled off their bus yesterday at Banbridge at gun point by the PSNI /RUC. They were held at the road side for over two hours, all were searched for arms (including children), all were swabbed for explosives (including children) all were photographed (including children). Concerned onlookers and friends were threatened and turned away at gun point. Children cried and in fear wet themselves, mothers wept and fathers raged...nothing was found. Now compare this with the treatment of the UVF rioters in the Short Strand, and tell me the RUC have gone away!

Another parent said:

A five year old boy wet himself while being searched by a TSG boiler suited ****! His father and mother had to be restrained by us. A group of the 12 children were crying uncontrollably as they were all searched by TSG members from Ardmore RUC station. There was British soldiers on standby with explosive swaps who wiped the inside and out of the bus and were testing them at a roadside lab lorry, they (the Brits) then took out tool kits and took out all the seats and the side panels of the bus, children had to watch as their parents and elderly grandparents were searched in front of them... I dare anybody tonight to attempt to tell me that the PSNI are heroes or that we should endorse these shower of filthy child abusing b******ds!!!!!

Another stated:

I am one of the parents that was there, i had my 3 sons with me, this has left my youngest son traumatised, 4 years of age took off a bus by heavily armed men at gun point, videoed and photographed as he was getting of , he was then separated from me by the PSNI which caused the kids more distress, the child wet himself with nerves, the PSNI then held him on a grass verge for near 2 hours with the child soaked to the bone with his own urine . This was a well planned operation of intimidation by the PSNI, it started that morning at 8o'clock when the PSNI watched us board the bus in West Belfast, they knew that 11 kids 4 woman and 5 fellas were on the bus, they planned the operation for max intimidation, in all my days i have never seen as much PSNI, brit soldiers, plain clothes cops do a stop an search, there was a very sinister element to why the PSNI took it upon themselves to do this, on another point a PSNI man wrote my name and address on a bit of paper and put it in his pocket, i challenged him on it, and he told me it was for his personal use.

The following is in todays Irish News

As soon as i got back home i immediately phoned a comrade who was on the bus to let him know that we tried to get to the scene to help but were prevented from doing this by gun weilding thugs. They were very grateful that we had tried to assist them. We made it clear that republicans from Newry will not be found wanting when it comes to standing up against these uniformed thugs.

What makes this incident even more disturbing is that children were targetted as well as adults. Youngs kids being seperated from their parents by armed gunmen who then photographed and videoed them. Young kids wet themselves with fear and were forced by these gunmen to stand on a grass verge for 2 hours soaked in their own urine. THIS IS CHILD ABUSE

These kids will not grow up with a different perception of the PSNI. They have now experienced what older generations have experienced. They grow to hate the PSNI. The PSNI have just created a new generation who will grow to oppose and resist them.

Folks given yesterdays harrowing experience that republicans had to endure just a few miles from Newry, i hope everyone who is outraged at what happened will come to the protest organised for this coming Saturday to vent their anger and disgust at this incident

Protest against MI5 and PSNI harassment of republicans, organised by éirígí, Sat 2nd July. Ardmore PSNI barracks, Belfast Road, Newry, 2pm

Anti-Racism World Cup

A great video on last years Anti-Racist World Cup and a great explanation on why you should be at this years!


Anti Racism World Cup from Creative Workers Co-operative on Vimeo.

Statement from the Family and Friends of Maghaberry POWs support group.

We the family and the friends of the republican prisoners in Maghaberry gaol reaffirm our total support for the men on protest brought about by the refusal of the gaol admin and NIO to honour the agreement signed by both parties and the independent facilitation group on 12th August 2010.
We understand totally why the prisoners believe they had no choice but to resume the protest that lead to the August agreement.

It became clear to the prisoners from day one of the agreement that the POA and some within the administration and NIO were totally apposed to it.

The POA in particular refused to implement the day to day workings of the agreement.

Backed up by some in the administration and NIO they slowly ground the agreement into the sand.

The prisoners repeatedly tried to work a way out of the logjam with the administration and NIO but felt that due to numerous issues but in particular the failure to end controlled movement and the introduction of forced strip searches that they had no choice but to resume the protest.

The prisoners have made it totally clear that the full implementation of the agreement is the only thing that will bring the protest to an end and we stand 100% behind them and call on everyone to support them in their fight to achieve their demands for basic human rights, dignity and respect.

We reject totally the comments made by David Ford that there is no breaking of the agreement by the jail administration, and call on him to read the report by his own staff that he commissioned after the breakdown of the agreement.

This document which is in his possession could end this protest today and we call on him to act now.

Martin Rafferty

Family and Friends of Maghaberry POWs support group, PRO.

Attack on Short Strand Repelled

On Monday morning, we were treated to the spectacle of a County Down golf star representing all that is supposedly great and good about the ‘new Northern Ireland’ amidst official astonishment that the numbers of tourists visiting the Six County state are dropping.

By virtue of a victory on a north American golf course, Rory McIlroy was alleged to be a symbol that made everyone in the Orange state proud to be from ‘Northern Ireland’, while the public was invited to be mystified that tourists were not so keen on visiting the North. ‘Perhaps if we had more golf courses’, mused the corporate voice of New Northern Ireland Inc.

By Monday evening, however, the more familiar face of occupied Ireland had reared its ugly head.

In what was a clearly premeditated attack, hundreds of unionists, armed with petrol bombs, paint bombs and pipe bombs, launched themselves at the isolated nationalist Short Strand enclave in east Belfast. The attack was launched from two different directions at exactly 9pm and was led by a large number of men dressed all in black, with balaclavas over their faces and surgical gloves on their hands.

This was the worst violence to hit the Short Strand since the prolonged sectarian siege of nearly a decade ago and has raised fears that the UVF are intent on raising tensions as the Orange marching season gets underway.

Dozens of houses were damaged during the sustained attack, while at least one man was hospitalised with serious head injuries. The unionist mob was driven back by local people emerging from their homes to defend their community. However, the mob then proceeded to pelt the district with missiles for a number of hours, with the PSNI doing nothing meaningful to halt the attack.

When the PSNI did intervene, it was to fire plastic bullets, injuring a number of young nationalists in the process.

The background to last night’s attacks, which were planned and orchestrated by the UVF, was an increasing dissatisfaction within the organisation over the targeting of senior members by the PSNI’s Historical Enquiries Team for sectarian murders carried out over the last 40 years.

éirígí national vice-chairperson Rab Jackson and the party’s Upper Falls representative Pádraic Mac Coitir visited the Short Strand this morning [Tuesday] to show solidarity with residents and to meet with local éirígí activists and community workers.

The two were shown some of the most badly damaged houses and talked to residents who said they had experienced the most terrifying night in a long time.

Jackson said: “Nationalists are sick, sore and tired of the fact that every time there are difficulties within unionism, this manifests itself in violent sectarian attacks. Ultimately, what we witnessed last night was the cranking up of a unionist mob – at the behest of the UVF – that simply doesn’t want a catholic about the place in east Belfast.

“The attack on the Short Strand is also an indicator of the total failure of what is called the peace process and those who police it to protect nationalists in vulnerable areas.”

Jackson added: “The people of the Short Strand are to be commended for their bravery in confronting the UVF and eventually forcing them from the area.

“The Short Strand community has a long and proud history of defending their area from British and unionist aggression, éirígí is confident that the current generation of residents will be no less determined.”

http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest210611.html

Protest Highlights Harassment

Note in the video the PSNI almost run over Padraic MacCoitir when they drive an armoured landrover into the peaceful protest at speed as well as showing their true colours by harassing the protesters

More than 70 people gathered at Grosvenor Road Barracks in Belfast on Saturday [June 18] to demonstrate their opposition to the ongoing harassment of republicans.

The protest, organised by éirígí, was called in the aftermath of an upsurge of intimidatory behaviour by the PSNI and British intelligence agencies.

Among the crowd were many éirígí activists, republican ex-prisoners, family members of serving political prisoners, community workers and others.

In recent weeks, both the PSNI and MI5 have upped their harassment of republican activists and ex-prisoners, in the process often tormenting young families and placing huge strain on many individuals.

Towards the end of the demo, the protestors gathered at the entrance to the barracks where they were addressed by éirígí’s representative for the Upper Falls area Pádraic Mac Coitir.

As Mac Coitir began speaking, a number of PSNI landrovers attempted to drive through the crowd of protestors at high speed. However, the protesters refused to be cowed and the PSNI were forced to wait until the proceedings had ended before entering the base.

Mac Coitir encouraged anyone who has been on the receiving end of harassment to immediately contact their solicitor and inform other members of their community so assistance could be forthcoming.

Rúnaí ginearálta éirígí Breandán Mac Cionnaith commended those who attended the protest.

“At a time when anybody who is seen to be out of step with the establishment point of view is deemed suspect, or worse, being outright criminalised, it is encouraging to see that so many Belfast republicans took the time to attend Saturday’s demonstration.

“It is important to show the British state and its agencies that we will not be intimidated nor will we allow republicans to be isolated and marginalised.”

Mac Cionnaith added: “The most depressing aspect of the current campaign of harassment is that the nefarious activities of MI5 and the PSNI are completely legal, according to British law, under the Justice & Security Act of 2007. At the time, éirígí were the only party to point out that the Act was about normalising repression in the Six Counties and giving it a permanent legal footing – there is now abundant evidence to support this position.

“éirígí will continue to campaign against political policing and the activities of the British intelligence agencies. It is time all those who claim to uphold the human rights of nationalists began to do likewise.”

http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest200611.html

Anti Racism World Cup 2011

Hundreds Turn Out To Remember "The Dark"

Last Saturday hundreds of Republicans descended on the scenic Cooley Mountains to pay tribute to one of the most influential Irish revoloutionaries in history in an event organised by Brendans family & friends.

Brendan "The Dark" Hughes name is as recognised as Wolfetone, Robert Emmett and Bobby Sands to name a few.

I felt immensley proud standing on the mountainside in the pouring rain with hundreds of fellow republicans, including ex-POWs, Blanketmen, Hungerstrikers, Brendans family, friends & comrades who fought alongside him on active service.

 One thing that stood out was the example of republican unity. All the main republican groups stood shoulder to shoulder. éirígí, 32csm, RNU along with independent republicans and 2 Republican Flute bands all came together to pay their respects to The Dark.

A beautiful memorial bench was rededicated due to the last one being smashed by cowards.

The proceedings were chaired by Tommy Gorman and speeches were made by, Brendans brother, Barry Hughes, Jim McAllister and the main oration by Martin Galvin.

The suffering of Republican POWs in Maghaberry was highlighted and messages of support from the POWs in Portlaoise and a letter from Marian Price was read out  by veteran republican Val Lynch.

 Here is the full text of Martin Galvins speech

AN UNREPENTANT FENIAN


An influential New York radio program, Radio Free Eireann, where Brendan Hughes’ voice was heard, as well as the voices of some others here, begins each week with a song that shouts the words “unrepentant Fenian bastard!” Years ago when first I came across the phrase “unrepentant” Fenian or “unrepentant” Republican, it puzzled me. Repentance meant remorse and contrition for some wrongdoing that one later comes to regret.

We mark Easter as our national day to honour Ireland’s patriot dead and pay tribute to their unbroken bond with the volunteers of 1916 by reading the Proclamation. That generation honoured the Fenians, whose very graves they said, guaranteed that” Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.” Later the word Fenian came to be commonly used as a label to abuse any defiant Republicans who dared not bend the knee to British rule or sectarian privilege.

Either way I took the term to be a compliment, high praise, and another way of saying Irish patriot. No one speaks of a repentant patriot. Why should a Fenian or Republican be repentant and why would it ever be noteworthy to single out any Republican for being unrepentant? Of course it is easier to see the meaning of that phrase today.

Brendan Hughes surely lived and died as an unrepentant Fenian. He could have no more repented, nor disowned, nor denied his part in the IRA’s fight against British rule, than he could repent being Irish, or disown Belfast, or disavow the legitimacy of the Irish struggle by donning a British criminal uniform in the H-blocks of Long Kesh.

The very suggestion that he repent, disown or even mitigate his part in the struggle to make himself more politically acceptable to the British administration much less to a Paisley or Robinson led Stormont would have been answered with that sly mischievous grin, perhaps a chuckle and an instruction to ”cop yourself on.”

Last week David Cameron managed to take time out from his busy schedule with more important matters, to visit what he repeatedly and deliberately deems “this part of the United Kingdom”. He patted himself on the back for the Bloody Sunday families’ hard won apology, said he did it to close the chapter, and spoke of honouring those who he says served with distinction in upholding British rule and law. There does not seem to be much repentance there for the Ballymurphy Massacre, or shoot-to-kill, or internment, or collusion murders with loyalist death squads, or torture or Hunger Strike deaths, Diplock Courts or any of the many other unjustified and unjustifiable acts, mere tactics, wielded in the name of British law and rule. His attitude is of course characteristic of what the Republicans have always heard from the British crown. Cameron by the way was applauded at Stormont.

Brendan Hughes took pride in counting himself as one of those men and women who served with distinction standing against these unjustified and unjustifiable acts committed by those upholding British rule and law, and against the very idea that the right of Irish people to national freedom vanishes into the air a few miles down the road.

It is hardly necessary for me to speak about his part in the struggle in the presence of some who were with him, with him in the streets of Belfast or the infamous H-blocks of Long Kesh.

However some mention must be made if only because some, in the name of the new political dispensation, seem to believe that it is permissible to dispense with the reputations and part played in the struggle of those like Brendan who did not fall in line behind the narrative. Our presence here today, the memorial lecture of a few weeks ago, the murals of him, so fittingly near murals dedicated to Republican political prisoners are proof if any were needed, that Brendan Hughes is beyond any attempt to discredit, diminish or dispense with his exploits.

Like countless others, I knew of him long before I would meet him. Like a Jim Lynagh, or Pete Ryan or Francis Hughes among so many others, Brendan Hughes was one of those volunteer IRA soldiers whose courage and determination seemed to overflow into those alongside them, somehow instilling confidence that the overwhelming military advantages held by British crown forces would someone be neutralized or overcome because he was there.

He was fearless, a leader who was there at the beginning in Belfast, rose through the ranks, and led from the front.

It was perhaps most characteristic of him that when he escaped from a British prison he did so not to gain freedom and safety in the south or even a respite, but to get back to the fight within days.

In the H-blocks he had the unenviable, if not near impossible task of rallying the H-block blanketmen, the 300 Spartans, as Richard O’Rawe described them, keeping up their spirits and morale in the daily fight against British criminalization while exercising the restraint and patience required by the Republican movement, to build a campaign which would eventually inspire countless thousands across Ireland and around the globe to rally behind the blanketmen against Thatcher’s brutal torture.

When all attempts at a political resolution, including that by Cardinal O’Fiaich were dismissed by Thatcher, and the ultimate protest, hunger strike, was forced upon Republican political prisoners, Brendan Hughes volunteered to lead. While himself suffering 53 days of hunger strike, on the back of years of protest, the responsibility fell upon him to end the first hunger strike in time to save the life of Sean McKenna. We would then see Thatcher choose the tactics which would mean the death of ten hunger strike martyrs, in her vain effort to break the struggle by breaking the prisoners.

After his release from Long Kesh, Brendan volunteered to come to the United States to collect funds for the Republican Movement. It was not an assignment he relished, but one that was important to the struggle. He would begin meetings by explaining he was not there to seek monies for Irish Northern Aid or the families of political prisoners or for Sinn Fein.

He threw himself into the tour, meeting small groups answering questions and explaining strategy. He worked with patience, determination and some humor and succeeded nearly doubling his original goal. He was perhaps too successful. It is perhaps no coincidence, that when he returned to Ireland he was slotted into the IRA’s security department, where he could be checked by at least one prominent British agent, Freddie Scappaticci, while another paid British traitor, Denis Donaldson maneuvered himself to a post in New York the next year where he could knock down all that Brendan had built up.

In those days, the British trumpeted the propaganda fiction that the IRA fight was not due to the injustice of British rule but because so-called godfathers were profiting from the war. Anyone who ever visited Brendan Hughes would see this claim for the lie that it was, as he clearly never profited, benefited or was enriched by a struggle in which he long played a leading role.

Later, he would come to question a deal that he feared would not only barter away acceptance of British rule and a unionist veto, but would hijack Republicanism by maneuvering some well-meaning Republicans into positions within a British Stormont administration or constabulary boards where they inescapably would be used by the British to put a Republican face on British rule.

How easy it would have been for him to keep silent, perhaps be seen at the odd political event or commemoration and simply enjoy the prominence, esteem and financial opportunities, which his part in the struggle might have merited. Instead the same beliefs which brought this Unrepentant Fenian out onto the streets of Belfast to join the struggle against the forces of the British crown ,led him to decide that loyalty to the struggle now demanded he to speak against the deal, and direction in which the Movement was headed.

His arguments were seldom answered on the merits but sidestepped with fanciful claims that Brendan was affected by the hunger strike or his years of imprisonment. The worst and most hurtful of these was the slander that he was against the leadership on a personal basis. This was a movement led by some with whom he had fought alongside, been imprisoned and risked his life. The idea of speaking against a leadership which included close friends must have been heartbreaking for him and harder in some ways than refusing the crown uniform in Long Kesh. Such slanders were created to enable others to justify themselves to themselves without dealing with the truth behind his words.

He became a rallying point for debate, for independent Republican analysis, and for legitimate criticism at a time when many who could never be intimidated into talking at Castlereagh were intimidated into silence by threats, pickets, slurs or ostracism so strong that it could push a strong individual like Whitey Bradley to take his own life.

Today it is important to return to the fundamental question of that debate. Will this Stormont deal be a transition to a united Ireland? Is accepting British rule, taking Stormont ministries or places on constabulary boards, and banding together in partnership with the DUP, succeeding in removing the injustices underpinning British rule, overcoming the unionist veto and uniting Ireland?

Alternatively, was the deal planned by the British to be a final resting place for Republicans? Will those who become wedded to a British administration ultimately be wedded to its injustices- their very presence and reputations as Republicans trotted out to present visible Republican faces behind which British rule will be administered in British interests? Will those from the unionist community be swayed to join them in a united Ireland or is it more likely that some from the nationalist community, who take up jobs and positions, begin to think that British rule is not so bad for me?

We need only look to Maghaberry, and the plight of Republican prisoners which was always so close to Brendan’s heart. Thirty years ago, Republicans were in the midst of a Hunger Strike in Long Kesh.

It had been forced on the prisoners by years of beatings and “naked brutality”, much of inflicted during mirror searches of naked prisoners. The British crown indulged the sectarian brutality and beatings because it served British objectives. Forcing Republican prisoners to wear a criminal uniform was part of a strategy, to claim the six counties as normal, and claim those in Long Kesh or Armagh as criminals duly convicted by Diplock courts.

Many who supported these Republican prisoners, Cardinal O’Fiaich first and foremost, did not support the armed struggle, but did so a humanitarian basis, noting that the Blanketmen were jailed under special laws, by special Diplock Courts, for unselfish politically motivated actions that would never have occurred except for the political situation. Which of these criteria does not apply to Republican political prisoners in Maghaberry today?

Why cannot Sinn Fein on this same basis halt this naked brutality and secure the enforcement of the reasonable agreement made last August 12?

Why today in Maghaberry under a compromised justice ministry, and handpicked minister, is this brutality allowed to continue?

Why do we hear DUP members and David Ford sounding Thatcher like in saying no concessions and Sinn Fein unable or unwilling to halt this naked brutality?

Marian Price is also in Maghaberry, not for anything she said or did at an Easter Commemoration in Derry, (although the day when it is illegal to commemorate Easter and its meaning in the six counties may be coming .She is there because a British official arbitrarily revoked her decades old license.

One of those then charged with her, has a top position at Stormont and on the constabulary board. Does that make her situation better or worse? When will she have an opportunity to challenge the crown’s use of a license as a license to intern at will?

Gerry McGeough is also in Maghaberry. He was jailed in 2011 for IRA charges that took place in the middle of the 1981 Hunger Strike.

We know he was arrested in retaliation for running for election as an Independent Republican and criticizing a re-branded crown constabulary. How many members of the crown forces have been give a silent amnesty for shoot-to-kill, collusion murders, or even torture or perjury in cover-ups.

How can Republicans look at cases like this and not question whether seats at Stormont or constabulary boards are leading only to more seats at Stormont or more places at boards serving British rule in a partitioned Ireland.

Again last week, Cameron was at Stormont. His speech should have shattered the myths and illusions. He thinks it is done and dusted. He thinks when we speak of Ireland and unification we should be speaking of the north cemented together with England, Scotland and Wales. He thinks that the British crown has at last locked up movement towards Irish freedom within Stormont, as tightly as Brendan Hughes and the three hundred Spartans were locked away in Long Kesh. He was even applauded by Sinn Fein.

How many times did his predecessor, Thatcher think that she had Brendan Hughes and the blanketmen beaten? How wrong she was.

Brendan Hughes and his fellow political prisoners locked away in the H-blocks or Armagh were able to inspire a unity and determination which broke anything that Thatcher or the British could throw at them.
 
Can Republicans today forge a unity and strategy which can break through once more and get us back on the path to the united and free Ireland which this unrepentant Fenian and so many others sacrificed and suffered so much to win for us?