Saturday, September 01, 2007

VICTIM OF POLITICALLY-INSPIRED FORGERY.

LEST WE FORGET THIS IRISH HERO....

ROGER CASEMENT : born September 1, 1864, Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland , put to death August 3, 1916, London, England .

Roger Casement.
by William Butler Yeats.

I SAY that Roger Casement
Did what he had to do.
He died upon the gallows,
But that is nothing new.

Afraid they might be beaten
Before the bench of Time,
They turned a trick by forgery
And blackened his good name.

A perjurer stood ready
To prove their forgery true;
They gave it out to all the world,
And that is something new;

For Spring Rice had to whisper it,
Being their Ambassador,
And then the speakers got it
And writers by the score.

Come Tom and Dick, come all the troop
That cried it far and wide,
Come from the forger and his desk,
Desert the perjurer's side;

Come speak your bit in public
That some amends be made
To this most gallant gentleman
That is in quicklime laid.

(From here)

Roger Casement rarely receives a mention when it comes to the writers and poets of 1916 and yet his reports from the Putumayo and from the Congo show a writer of great talent. His descriptions of the horrendous brutality inflicted on innocent and perfectly peaceful native inhabitants was enough to force a change of policy with regard to the treatment of workers and slaves on the rubber plantations. Casement wrote in 1911 that "The robbery of Ireland since the Union has been so colossal, carried out on such a scale, that if the true account current between the two countries were ever submitted to any impartial tribunal England would be clapped in jail." Besides his obvious wit he managed to write some serious and emotive rhyme including his poem Parnell:

" Of unmatched skill to lead by pathways rife

With danger and dark doubt, where slander's knife

Gleamed ever bare to wound, yet over all

He pressed triumphant on- lo, thus to fall."

(From here)

We Irish have long memories - we need to have , with , so far, over eight centuries of recorded history to pass on to future generations...
The '1169...' Team .






Friday, August 31, 2007

A MANIFESTO/LIBERATION/LEFT BEHIND.

A MANIFESTO : BRITAIN MUST WITHDRAW HER FORCES.......

This Manifesto was posted throughout Occupied Ireland during the week beginning December 6 , 1957 , and ending on December 12 .
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

" To achieve our objectives we must end forever interference in our affairs by an outside power . We must drive from our shores the forces of this outside power . We must establish national independence .

That is the task the Resistance has set itself . With the help of the Irish people we will reach our goal . All British occupation forces must withdraw from Ireland now ."


[END of 'A MANIFESTO : BRITAIN MUST WITHDRAW HER FORCES']
(NEXT : 'Drogheda Corporation On Internments' - from the same source.)


A QUESTION OF LIBERATION .......

Feminists and anti-imperialists in Ireland have often regarded each other's struggles with misunderstanding , mutual suspicion , and sometimes outright rejection . What then is the relationship between them ? Eibhlin Ni Gabhann surveys the emergence of women's liberation groups in Belfast and Dublin over the past decade or so , and some of the questions they have faced .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983.

One founder member of the 'Irish Women United'(IWU)group recalls -

" Young angry women in IWU only had to look at the position of women in Dublin , Belfast , Cork or Kerry to see that nothing had been gained for women through fighting beside men . Republicans had been as guilty as imperialists in their eyes . Now seemed the time for women to fight on their own , undistracted by calls for support from anti-imperialist but essentially male struggles . Ultimately though , the damage done by the non-discussion of the North led to the break-up of the IWU ."

For their part , republican women raised the question of women's rights formally for the first time at the 1979 Sinn Fein Ard Fheis . Both Northern and Southern women spoke , convinced that Sinn Fein had to take up seriously the oppression of women , and that it was not enough to say - as some argued - that women in the Republican Movement were not discriminated against within the Movement . Whether that were true or not , our concern had to be for the people of Ireland , for all the women who were not just second-class citizens but , as James Connolly said , "...the slaves of slaves.." .

Out of that Ard Fheis intervention came the Sinn Fein Department of Women's Affairs which submitted a policy document - 'Women In The New Ireland' - to the 1980 Ard Fheis . It had the backing of the Ard Comhairle (ruling body) of Sinn Fein and was passed almost unanimously . Since then , 'women's affairs' officers have been appointed in most Sinn Fein cumann and comhairli ceantair , and the 'Women's Affairs' Head of Department is automatically co-opted to the Ard Comhairle : that Department , focussed mainly on Belfast , Dublin and Derry , is still in a formative stage but it has been responsible for some important initiatives as well as heightening generally the republican consciousness concerning women's rights.......

(MORE LATER).




THE LEFT BEHIND.

Dick Spring and the Labour Party headed into this election campaign with four years of coalition government behind them . To observe them on the campaign trial you would never guess this , but there is , nevertheless , a noticeable resistence to them , especially amongst traditional Labour voters . Judging from Dick Spring's reception on the campaign trial it is almost certain that the party is in big trouble , at least in the Dublin area .

From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine 'Election Special' , 1987 .
By Derek Dunne.

Nobody noticed how Ruairi Quinn hi-jacked Dick Spring's itinerary that day . The plan that had been laid out for Dick in advance included a visit to Ruairi , but when everybody arrived Ruairi had an alternative sheet prepared which he gave to journalists . Other than to have a stand-up row about it , there was really no choice but to go along with the new plan , which included a fair amount of publicity for Ruairi himself , who may not be returned in this election . There was even talk that he might have found himself 'a job' in the event of being made redundant by the electorate .

It's hardly a month since Dick Spring sat at the cabinet table, but in the minds of the Labour Party ministers they have distanced themselves from those awful days . Nowadays , posters of Dick show the man with an open shirt - a 'Good Man Of The People'- : his moustache is trimmed , to give it a tamer if sharper look . On the posters at least , the working class hero has finally come home to roost .

The day is dark and cold when the bus leaves Labour Party Headquarters ; Dick Spring steps out - 'People of Ireland , I love you...' On the bus , the RTE cameras start to roll as the vehicle makes its way down Dorset Street . Passers-by look with amazement as they see James Connolly's successor (!) answering questions , facing into a camera , in a bus moving through the early morning traffic . Dick has own reservations about touring in buses , and what effect it has on people but , since the other parties do it , Labour would not seem to have a choice . It is a travelling circus.......
(MORE LATER).







Thursday, August 30, 2007

THE DOGS OF FIONN...


" It was a time of trouble-executions,
Death, searches, nightly firing, balked escapes –
And I sat silent while my cellmate figured
Ruy Lopez' Gambit from the 'Praxis'. Silence
Best fitted our mood: we seldom spoke.
'I have a thought,' he said, tilting his stool.
'We prisoners are so many pieces taken,
Swept from the chessboard, only used again
When a new game is started.' 'There's that hope,'
I said, 'the hope of being used again.
Some day of strength, when ploughs are out in March,
The dogs of Fionn will slip their iron chains
And, heedless of torn wounds and failing wind,
Will run the old grey wolf to death at last'.
He smiled, 'I like your image. My fat kings,
And painted Queens, and purple-cassocked Bishops
Are tame, indeed, beside your angry dogs! "

(....taken from here.)

- Written by Joseph Campbell, interned in the Curragh, 1923-24.


Read the above , follow the links and read what they offer . Then , read this link and see if you can help.......
Go raibh máith agat , from the '1169...' Crew .






Wednesday, August 29, 2007

A MANIFESTO : BRITAIN MUST WITHDRAW HER FORCES.......

This Manifesto was posted throughout Occupied Ireland during the week beginning December 6 , 1957 , and ending on December 12 .
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

" The Protestants of Occupied Ireland are thinking for themselves . They know that Irish Republicanism was born among them 167 years ago . They know that Protestant Ireland - and Protestant Ulster especially - has given some of her best sons to the cause of Irish Republicanism . They know that only in a truly Republican Ireland will equal rights and equal opportunities for all our citizens be assured , the memory of all past dissentions be abolished , and the common name of Irishman be substituted in place of the designations 'Protestant , Catholic and Dissenter' .

This Republican faith is not dead among them . They will yet return to the allegiance of Tone and Emmet, Mitchel and Davis, Orr and McCracken. The lies of those who stand to gain most by the British Imperial tie will then be exposed. The Irish people will then be united for the welfare of their country and the prosperity of the nation . God speed the day !

We must recover for the Irish people possession of the natural resources of our country. We must secure for the Irish people democracy , unity and sovereignty....... "

(MORE LATER).




A QUESTION OF LIBERATION .......

Feminists and anti-imperialists in Ireland have often regarded each other's struggles with misunderstanding , mutual suspicion , and sometimes outright rejection . What then is the relationship between them ? Eibhlin Ni Gabhann surveys the emergence of women's liberation groups in Belfast and Dublin over the past decade or so , and some of the questions they have faced .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983.

One founding member of the 'Irish Women United' group recalls : " A major problem in IWU was the issue of the North . Some women were members of anti-imperialist organisations , but others didn't want to hear about any struggle other than our own . Historically , the reasons for this are quite apparent and indeed valid - republicans had , like all other men , written women out of history . Anne Devlin had been relegated to the position of Robert Emmet's girlfriend - no mention of her part in the organisation of the 1803 Rising.

The militant and radical Ladies Land League, led by Anna Parnell, was disbanded and made out to be just a 'stand-in' while Charles Stewart Parnell was in jail . How many 'heart-broken sweethearts , widows or sisters' were activists ?

More recently , some republicans had been prepared to use the suffragettes, and support the women's right to vote , while others felt it was too trival to even discuss . Republicans had dismissed the suffragette hunger-strike as 'a very womanish thing to do'.......! "

(MORE LATER).



REPUBLICAN EVICTIONS.......

Known members of the INLA were recruited to carry out a forced eviction of tenants in a Dublin house.
By Liz Walsh.
From 'MAGILL'magazine, June 1998 .

Gary Adams , from County Antrim , has one previous conviction for armed robbery in the South . Last year (1997) he gave the oration at the graveside of Johnny Morris, the young INLA man from Tallaght who was shot dead by gardai in an abortive robbery at Goldenbridge in Inchicore , Dublin .

Gary Adams and Damien Bond (31) of Doolargy Avenue , Dundalk , County Louth , were charged with INLA membership and intimidation at Oaktree Drive on August 1 , 1996 . The State later dropped the membership charge in return for both men pleading guilty to intimidation . Thomas Murray (25) of Marion Park , Dundalk , and Bart O' Connor (60) of Whitethorn Close , Beaumont , Dublin , were charged with intimidation , although the charge against Bond was later dropped .

The DPP recommended that no charge be brought against Thomas Gear.

[END of 'REPUBLICAN EVICTIONS']
(NEXT : 'The Left Behind' - from 1987)






Tuesday, August 28, 2007

SOME UP-COMING REPUBLICAN EVENTS...

POLITICAL STATUS PICKET -
Saturday , September 8 , 12.45pm , GPO , Dublin .

ANNUAL EVE OF ALL-IRELAND RALLY -
Saturday , September 15 : Garden Of Remembrance , Parnell Square , 1.45pm for parade to the GPO .

ANNUAL BOBBY SANDS LECTURE -
Monday , September 24 , 7pm-9.30pm , Wynn's Hotel , Dublin . Theme : 'The Fenians And The Manchester Martyrs' .

More details to follow...






Monday, August 27, 2007

A MANIFESTO : BRITAIN MUST WITHDRAW HER FORCES.......

This Manifesto was posted throughout Occupied Ireland during the week beginning December 6 , 1957 , and ending on December 12 .
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

" Scores of our comrades are serving long terms of imprisonment . Many more are jailed without charge or trial . But their places in the Resistance have been filled ten-fold and now on the hills , in the glens , through the towns and villages of historic Ulster the young Volunteer freedom fighters are intensifying the struggle .

The Resistance is growing stronger . It will continue until Britain takes her forces of occupation out of our country . By force of arms our country is kept divided and unfree , by force of arms our people are robbed of their rights , by force of arms the usurper maintains his rule . Only by force of arms can Ireland be restored to her rightful owners - the Irish people .

We have no quarrel with any section of the Irish people or with any Irish man or woman . The puppet Assembly at Stormont - representing the vested interests of Tory-Unionism
('1169...' Comment - ....and nationalists/ex-republicans) who are tied to the British Empire by bonds of wealth , power and privilege - in appealing to sectarian passions have attempted to misrepresent us . Stormont has failed . ('1169...' Comment : Stormont was then , and is now , set-up by Westminster to manage the illegal and immoral occupation and to put a veneer of 'democracy' on same to the outside world , preferably , from Westminster's point of view that is , with the assistance of some local 'rebel pets') The Protestants of Occupied Ireland have not ALL been blinded by the propaganda of this Ascendancy class....... "
(MORE LATER).



A QUESTION OF LIBERATION .......

Feminists and anti-imperialists in Ireland have often regarded each other's struggles with misunderstanding , mutual suspicion , and sometimes outright rejection . What then is the relationship between them ? Eibhlin Ni Gabhann surveys the emergence of women's liberation groups in Belfast and Dublin over the past decade or so , and some of the questions they have faced .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983.

There was little attempt by the 'Irish Women's Liberation Group' to organise or recruit working-class women , who of course were suffering most from the Free State's repressive laws and attitudes . It is especially significant that no demands on child care were ever formulated by the 'Irish Women's Liberation Group , but , however , their activities did raise the public consciousness of women's rights in the South , and it was through their agitation that , for instance , deserted wives and unmarried mothers now have the right to social welfare allowances .

A breakaway group of socialist and radical feminist women , the 'Irish Women United' group, emerged in 1976 - but the same inability to get to grips with the situation in the North remained . To those who raised the question of the war in the North of Ireland the stock objection put forward was that it did not 'prioritise' women and as such was not an issue for feminists ! The fact remains that many of those objectors had perceived no difficulty in supporting women struggling in anti-imperialist wars in other countries . Mairin de Burca, for instance , one of the most vociferous women who spoke against any support for the republican women prisoners in Armagh Jail, had been arrested at a demonstration held outside the American Embassy in Dublin against the war in Vietnam and subsequently served a sentence in Mountjoy Jail where she demanded and got privileges as a political prisoner.......!
(MORE LATER).



REPUBLICAN EVICTIONS.......

Known members of the INLA were recruited to carry out a forced eviction of tenants in a Dublin house.
By Liz Walsh.
From 'MAGILL'magazine, June 1998 .

According to Thomas Gear , Bart O' Connor said 'they'll never bother you again' , and said there would be no cost involved but if he wanted to pay a nominal expense he could do so at a later stage . Thomas Gear denied being a member of the INLA . When Bart O' Connor was arrested he admitted contacting Gary Adams 'as a favour' to Gear - " I know he (Adams) is involved ," he told detectives , " I don't want to mention he is in the INLA , but you know yourself , it's no secret."

During questioning , Damien Bond said he had known Gary Adams for about 18 months . When asked how much he was getting for the job , he said - " I don't know . I was told it was a small job for drink money ." According to Thomas Murray's statements , the gang members were to get £100 for the job . He said he wouldn't have used the lump hammer found on him 'unless I had to.' Gary Adams refused to make a statement . The 36-year-old republican is a member of the executive of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), the alleged political wing of the INLA . According to 'security force' intelligence reports , Gary Adams is also the INLA's most senior member in the South of Ireland .

He was one of just 11 IRSP members to vote in favour of an INLA cease-fire at the IRSP Ard Fheis in Dublin last year (1997) . That vote was overwhelmingly defeated . Ironically , one of the issues he addressed at that Ard Fheis was forced evictions , caused by 'unionist-loyalist pogroms' . He condemned the evictions as 'cowardly attacks on defenceless men , women and children.......'
(MORE LATER).







Sunday, August 26, 2007



APPEAL FOR FUNDS.......


Republican Sinn Fein are embarking on a development and modernisation programme for their organisation which will include advances in recruitment , publicity , upgrading of technology and improved Office accomodation .

This will cost a considerable amount of money , which RSF haven't got , necessitating this financial appeal . All subscriptions , large or small , can be sent to the treasurer of the Republican Sinn Fein Development Fund at Head Office , 223 Parnell Street , Dublin 1 , or made payable to -

Republican Sinn Fein Development Fund ,
Allied Irish Bank ,
Capel Street ,
Dublin 1.

Account Number 15411-097.

All donations will be appreciated and acknowledged.
Go raibh máith agat !
Sharon.