Monday, April 30, 2007

British Intimidation.......

'INTIMIDATION BY FORCE OF ARMS'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

' An extraordinary attempt is now being made to intimidate the nationalist people of Occupied Ireland by a show of force . What happened in Roslea , County Fermanagh , during the past month is only a case in point .

When a 'Crimes Court' held its first sitting in Roslea , aircraft assisted the ground forces in carrying out what Stormont calls "security precautions" , which included air-ground radio communications and , after the court sitting ended , the aircraft continued the low-flying survey .

On the ground , strong patrols of RUC covered the district . At various points in the village the RUC , armed with sub-machine guns , took up positions in the entries and alcoves , while at the rear of the small courthouse , patrols with Sten-guns covered the yards and gardens . There were further strong patrols at road-crossings and all persons not personally known to the RUC men were stopped and closely questioned . A considerable number of RUC and B-Specials were held in reserve at the local RUC Barracks : there are now 10 RUC Commandos in Roslea . The bulk of the RUC was made up of the new RUC Commando force drafted into the area to assist in the "security precautions......." '

(MORE LATER).


THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY.......
Swords (Dublin) councillor , Clare Daly , wiped a tear from her eye in the (State) High Court after being sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of Court in defying an injunction on her blockading bin lorries.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine, September 2003 .

Clare Daly is scarily committed to her politics - even for a Trot - and , despite having a three-year-old daughter and a full-time job , has barely been off the airwaves in the week before she went inside , flustering even every Dub's 'best friend' , Joe Duffy. She has been hammering home her belief that the bin charges are just a first step to privatising the bin service in Dublin - one over which there will be no price control and whixch will put binmen's jobs and conditions at risk .

Dublin is 'the Alamo' for the privatisation of all public services , she stated , and most local authorities that have introduced bin charges for householders have subsequently privatised the service . This is because when those in Leinster House tried to bring in water charges they did so first in Dublin , and there they fell - in no small part due to Clare Daly . This time around they have taken the country first , with Dublin the last to 'fall' . In typical Socialist Party fashion , the bin campaign has taken it upon itself to stand up even for those who want to pay the charges , claiming they have been bullied * into paying . ( * '1169..' Comment : ...for our part , we can confirm that the local authority in this area has posted out 'red letters' to non-payers , 'advising' them that court action may follow unless they pay the double tax .)

Last week (Provisional) Sinn Fein activist Daithí Doolan (seen here on Poppa Gerry's knee) - who is involved in the anti-bin tax campaign in the City Council area ('1169...' Comment : as are some of his party colleagues!) - produced a letter dated February 18th , 2003 , from Fingal County Council to John Glennon of SIPTU, in which privatisation of the bin service is mentioned.......
(MORE LATER).



GLOSSARY OF THE LEFT IN IRELAND : FROM 1960 TO 1983.......
These notes attempt to record the left-wing organisations which have existed in Ireland since 1960 . No attempt has been made to record purely local organisations outside Dublin and Belfast , or microscopic groups which never reached double figures . The larger organisations have been presented in more detail .
From 'GRALTON' magazine, 1983.
By John Goodwillie.
(NOTE : Links in the following article are as accurate as possible - not all the groups mentioned left a discernible 'footprint' .)

WORKERS PARTY: This group changed their name from Sinn Fein The Workers Party and from Republican Clubs-The Workers Party in 1982 . Was considered to be the major organisation to the political left of the Labour Party.

YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE: Formed in 1968 as the youth movement of the Communist Party Of Northern Ireland, this group merged into the Connolly Youth Movement in 1970 .

YOUNG LABOUR LEAGUE: A short-lived semi-official youth movement of the Labour Party in 1967 .
(MORE LATER).