An Phoblacht, October 2017

20 years a TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Catalonia's right to referendum

H-Blocks POW Nothing Laurence McKeown new in reviews escape movie new book on Gerry Adams

anphoblacht Sraith Nua Iml 40 Uimhir 10

Deireadh / Meán Fómhair 2017

50 YEARS ON FROM CIVIL RIGHTS CAMPAIGN...

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IS UNIONISM UP FOR GENUINE POWER-SHARING?

2 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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Mary Lou McDonald TD speaks at Tyrone Volunteers Commemoration

‘For reconstruction we must remember, and for reconciliation we must forgive’ THE 2017 Tyrone Volunteers Commemoration was held in Strabane on Sunday 24 September after a parade across the Border from Lifford, emphasising the strong links between County Donegal and County Tyrone.

Mary Lou McDonald TD, Sinn Féin deputy leader, gave the main address, paying tribute to the sacrifice and commitment of republicans in the region and setting out Sinn Féin’s commitment to political institutions in the North that deliver in the manner and terms agreed since the Good Friday Agreement.

THE BRIDGE TODAY’S MARCH was significant as it crossed the bridge between Lifford and Strabane.

It highlighted the opaque rationale for an arbitrary line drawn on the map almost 100 years ago to serve only the interest of the few.

Tá teipthe ar an gcríochdheighilt go hiomlán. Ach in aineoinn na teipe seo léiríonn an cuimhneachán seo inniu an dlúth-nasc atá idir poblachtánaigh ó dheas agus ó thuaidh agus an fhís atá acu d’Éirinn aontaithe a bheidh ráthúil agus ilchineálach Partition has failed miserably yet, despite this failure, today’s commemoration demonstrates the close bonds of republicans North and South and their vision for a prosperous, diverse and united Ireland.

Cross-Border bonds between west Tyrone and Donegal are bonds of family, of community. They have not been broken by an artificial border. I think this unity is best symbolised by Pat Doherty’s political leadership and unrelenting humanity.

I look forward to the day when that fracture of partition is gone and replaced by a new and united Ireland.

THE RIGHT TO REMEMBER

Speaking at the graveside of our friend and leader 5 ‘I look forward to the day when that fracture of partition is replaced by a new and united Ireland’ Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams said: “Martin did “The right to remember.”

And that is why we will never forget them. not go to war, the war came to him.”

So be in no doubt: republicans have the same They were a generation that fought so that no This was true for Martin McGuinness. other generation would have too. We now have right as any other section of the community to It was true for the people of Derry a peaceful pathway to progress. remember our loved ones. Your pain is no less And it was true for the people of Tyrone, Strabane, Glún ab ea iad a throid le nach mbeadh ar aon and no more than anyone else’s.

Castlederg, Glenelly and east Donegal who we ghún eile a leithéid a dhéanamh. Anois tá bealach The Good Friday Agreement also states: remember today. síochánta again chun dul chun cinn a bhaint amach.

“The achievement of a peaceful and just society After years of discrimination and repression, the Even in death, even after all of these years, there would be the true memorial to the victims of people stood up for change. Their demands for are those who seek to disrespect the loss of this violence. The achievement of a peaceful and fairness, equality and respect were met with the community and the memory of our patriot dead. just society.” might of the unionist establishment and British That was what previous generations of repubThey believe in a hierarchy and inequality. In a military. deserving and underserving dead. They believe licans fought for. That is what this generation is They brought the war to the towns and hillsides that republicans should not be remembered. That seeking to achieve. of Tyrone and a generation was left with no other you, after all you have endured, have no right to A just and peaceful society not just for nationoption but to step forward. remember your family and friends. alists and republicans but for all who share this A generation that would be lost to prison and Be in no doubt my friends: they are the minority proud island. a generation that gave their lives. barking from the sidelines with their mean-spirSin an rud atá an ghlúin seo ag iarraidh a bhaint Young lives who should have had the opportu- ited revisionist position that flies in the face of amach. Sochaí atá cothrom agus síochánta – ní nities and hope afforded their peers in the South what the majority of people voted for when they hamháin do phoblachtánaigh agus do náisíunaithe and in Britain. supported the Good Friday Agreement. ach do gach duine lena roinntear an t-oileán A generation who should have lived to see their That agreement stated: ársa seo. children and grandchildren grow up. A generaThat’s what Martin McGuinness dedicated his “It is recognised that victims have a right to tion that should have grown old in their villages remember as well as to contribute to a changed life to. and townlands. society.

Bravely, selflessly and, when the time came, as a

STORMONT

Sinn Féin is up for doing a deal on institutions, says Gerry Adams GERRY ADAMS has said that people should be in no doubt that the Sinn Féin leadership “is up for doing a deal with the DUP and the other parties, and of moving back into the Executive on that basis”.

He added: “Let the DUP and the two governments also be in no doubt – no policy can be sustained without the informed consent of citizens.”

Speaking at a commemoration in Ballymurphy, west Belfast, to mark the centenary of the death of Thomas Ashe on hunger strike and to remember all of the Hunger Strikers of the last century, Gerry Adams said: “Sinn Féin is fully committed to the power-sharing institutions and we are working to restore them.

“However, the lesson of recent years

is clear. As Martin McGuinness reminded us: the political institutions can only work if they are based on equality, respect and integrity.

‘The political institutions can only work if they are based on equality, respect and integrity’ “Our opponents – including elements in the DUP, the Fianna Fáil leadership and others – claim Sinn Féin is no longer interested in the Assembly. They know this is a lie.

5 The claim that Sinn Féin is no longer interested in the Assembly is a lie – Gerry Adams

“The DUP leadership in particular know this. They also know the conditions that are required for sustainable institutions to deliver for all our people on education, health, housing and anti-poverty needs as well

as the necessary work of reconciliation.

“So in order that there is no doubt, let me make it clear to everyone, including the republican grassroots – our leadership is up for doing a deal with the DUP and the other parties and of

moving back into the Executive on that basis.

“Let the DUP and the two governments also be in no doubt – no policy can be sustained without the informed consent of citizens.”

October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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5 Portraits are carried on posters and banners of families and friends of the 62 republicans who lost their lives

peacemaker and as a statesperson of international stature and enduring but principled tolerance.

Outreach, generosity and patience were his hallmark. But when the barriers to the necessary progress became immovable he called time on the DUP. For the value of the institutions lies in their ability to deliver, to deliver in the manner and in the terms agreed in various agreements since 1998.

That is the Sinn Féin objective in the current talks – a reasonable and achievable objective.

And we are determined to secure it. There is little appetite at any level of society for another protracted round of political inertia. The issues are well known. They are rooted in equality, mutual respect and justice. And in agreements reached but not delivered on.

The rights of Irish-speakers to live their lives through the Irish language.

The rights of bereaved families to inquests after, in some cases, the denial of this for decades and more.

The right to marriage equality as enjoyed by citizens in Britain and the rest of Ireland.

The right to expect that the political institutions will play the role intended of them in progressing

the peace and political processes.

That is the benchmark for Sinn Féin in these talks.

Citizens expect no less.

ENDING INEQUALITY We want to end the segregation and separation.

We hold no truck for sectarianism, sexism, racism or any other ‘ism’ that preserves inequality.

A just and peaceful society must be a reconciled society. The conflict was brutal as conflict is.

There were losses and hurt on all sides. We cannot and we will not shy away from that truth.

We must not only acknowledge the hurt endured by our community but also the hurt inflicted on others. That is the duty that falls on us all if we are to build a new and united Ireland.

For the sake of reconstruction we must remember, and for the sake of reconciliation we must forgive.

Ar mhaithe leis an atógáil caithfimid cuimhniú agus ar mhaithe leis an athmhuintearasa caithfimid maithiúnas a thabhairt.

There is a responsibility on us all to promote real reconciliation, to acknowledge, to reconcile and to heal.

As a society we must never forget the loss and we can never take our peace for granted.

But we must find a way to heal, to forgive and to reconcile. This is not the sole responsibility of republicans; it cannot be achieved by republicans alone. It cannot be a one-sided process.

We must have partners in the process. Unionism and the British Government must end their policy of prevarication, of inequality and the denial of rights.

They must honour previous agreements. They must seek to resolve the issues of the past and not refight them. The people are demanding more of all of us. Democracy must be respected and delivered on.

It’s time too for the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to stop using the North as political whipping stick as Sinn Féin grows in strength and support across the island.

It insults many of those left behind and fails to advance the cause of reconciliation, of progress.

Within a decade of centenaries marking partition, the Treaty, the Civil War and a violent birth of two states, political leaders of every hue owe it to all who have lived with the outcomes of the

island’s history to embrace the challenges and opportunities ahead.

RECONCILIATION AND RESPECT It is time now for a truly national discussion on reconciliation, on respect and on rights.

I want to be part of the discussion, where unionist leaders and the Irish and British governments sit down with us as equals, acknowledge the past and begin to chart a united and prosperous future for all peoples living on this island.

No one has anything to fear from reconciliation and our society has everything to gain.

Mar sin fágaimid an áit seo inniu bródúl as cuimhne iad siúd a tháinig romhainn, buíoch go bhfuil an cogadh thart agus go bhfuil bealach síochánta i dtreo athaontú ann.

So we leave here today, proud of the memory of those that came before. Grateful that the conflict has ended and a peaceful pathway to unity established.

Resolute in our resolve to bring about a just, prosperous and peaceful society for all.

That is the only fitting tribute to those we remember today, for all of those who lost their lives and as our legacy for future generations.

Foyle MP Elisha McCallion speaks at British Labour Party conference FOYLE Sinn Féin MP Elisha McCallion has called for an end to discrimination and urgent progress to be made towards a rights-based society.

Speaking at the Sinn Féin fringe meeting ‘Rights for All’ at the British Labour Party conference, Elisha McCallion said that rights are universal: “Rights are for all. Sinn Féin is working towards a united and agreed Ireland with rights and equality at its core.

“Securing the human rights, language rights, and welfare rights of citizens is a stand that has been endorsed in historic numbers by the electorate in the North of Ireland.

“So this is the context in which Stormont talks continue to take place.

Previous agreements and commitments must be implemented so that we build a rights-based society that delivers and 5 ‘We are determined to build on the legacy of Martin McGuinness’ – Foyle MP Elisha McCallion protects all citizens.”

The Sinn Féin MP asked: the medium of Irish are being denied else on these islands. It is not acceptable meaningfully” with the institutions of the “Can anyone logically explain why the same language rights as enjoyed by anywhere else on these islands and it is Good Friday Agreement and to form an a loving couple cannot marry in the their peers in other parts of these islands? not acceptable in the North of Ireland. Executive again based on the principles North of Ireland when that right has “Or why some bereaved families have “Our destination is a society that puts of rights, parity of esteem and equality. been accepted across every other part now been waiting over 40 years for an end to the denial of these rights.”

“And in this context,” she continued, of these islands? inquests to be held?

The recently-elected MP for Foyle “Sinn Féin wants to engage in a civic “Why children being educated through “That wouldn’t be tolerated anywhere said that the time has come to “engage conversation, a debate and discussion

on the benefits of Irish unity with rights at its core, which involves everyone and threatens no one.

“We are absolutely committed to seeing the political institutions re-es-

‘Previous agreements and commitments must be implemented so that we build a rights-based society that delivers and protects all citizens’ tablished. We are determined to build on the legacy of Martin McGuinness.

“That is what success in the talks looks like – institutions founded on their original guiding principles of equality and mutual respect.

“This would be an important advance for citizens who want the parties to turn a corner and who want to see a significant step-change – new political era which looks to the future.”

4 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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anphoblacht Editorial

WHAT'S INSIDE 6

British Army veterans march for immunity 8

Secure homes must surely be a policy priority 11

Whistleblowers and RTÉ 14

anphoblacht Eagarfhocal

anphoblacht

Is unionism up for genuine power-sharing?

ALMOST a year ago, the institutions in the North were rocked by the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme scandal. Amidst allegations of incompetence and corrupt practices, the scheme could cost taxpayers £400million over 20 years.

This was a scandal too far for institutions that had leaked public confidence due to the actions of the DUP and British Government and their failings to honour agreements.

Martin McGuinness was clear that the institutions can only work on the basis of equality, respect and integrity.

Since Martin McGuinness resigned in January, Sinn Féin has worked tirelessly to have a sustainable Executive established.

Institutions working on behalf of all citizens equally are in the best interests not only of republicans but for all in society. Sinn Féin wants to be in government North and South – but not at any price.

Sinn Féin in government in the North held their partners to account on the scandals and on the refusal to recognise equality and the rights of all. It is a level of accountability that has been missing from the many government permutations in the South.

It is an accountability that threatens the hegemony of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

The recent pronouncements of the Fianna Fáil leader about the

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IN PICTURES

fitness of Sinn Féin for government sound more like the extremes of unionism than the leader of a ‘republican’ party. In his arrogance, Mícheál Martin forgets that it is up to the people to decide who can be in government.

It is clear that, despite the spin of Fianna Fáil and unionism, Sinn Féin wants the institutions up and working for all.

The question that is unclear is the intention of unionism.

Since the Westminster election in June, the DUP has given a blank cheque to support a dysfunctional right-wing Tory Party and their disastrous Brexit policy. It appears that some in the DUP much prefer supporting the Tories in Westminster than powersharing in Belfast.

Unionism needs to make it clear if it is up for genuine powersharing – a partnership of equals – or if it wants to continue with the fantasy of a perpetual unionist dominance that has long since ended.

A partnership of equals that will respect the rights of all and operate with integrity.

A partnership of equals that will honour agreements and stand up in the interest of all in our society and in the interest of our economy.

AN PHOBLACHT is published monthly by Sinn Féin. The views in An Phoblacht are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sinn Féin. We welcome articles, opinions and photographs from new contributors but contact the Editor first.

An Phoblacht, Kevin Barry House, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland Telephone: (+353 1) 872 6 100. Email: editor@anphoblacht.com

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Sheena Campbell, killed by collusion 25 years ago 18 & 19

Britain’s murderous colonial policy in Ireland and Sri Lanka 20 & 21

5 Alex Maskey MLA, Orlaithí Flynn MLA and Councillor Deirdre Hargey at the Belfast protest against the ‘two-child tax credit cap’

5 Gerry Adams TD was a big attraction at the National Ploughing Championships in Screggan, Tullamore, County Offaly

October 1917: The rebirth of Sinn Féin 26 & 27

Americana and its impact on Irish music SUBSCRIBE ONLINE To get your An Phoblacht delivered direct to your mobile device or computer for just €10 per 12 issues and access to the historic The Irish Volunteer newspaperand An Phoblacht’s/IRIS the republican magazine archives

5 Sinn Féin contingent at Derry Pride calls for equality for the LGBT community and (right) carrying the colours with Pride

October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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DECLAN KEARNEY

Sinn Féin National Chairperson

5 The DUP is both emboldened and compromised by its alliance with the Tory Government at Westminster

It’s make your mind up time for political unionism

SINN FÉIN’S strategic project is to transform threat. That has been escalated with the fall-out is meaningless as she has made it clear the DUP acceptance of the Irish national identity in the Irish society. Equality, rights and inclusion from Brexit and the formalising of the Tory/DUP has no intention of resolving the issues which led North of Ireland.

There is also an Irish way of life in the North of alliance after the Westminster general election to the collapse of the Assembly. are essential to that process.

The political institutions in the North are required to make positive change in the lives of citizens.

The election of the Tories in Britain in 2010 provided those most hostile to the Good Friday Agreement within the DUP and political unionism to push back against the democratic transformation of the North.

The ongoing crisis is the culmination of successive financial scandals associated with the DUP, the failure to implement past agreements, the rejection of proper power-sharing and partnership, and the failure to reciprocate significant gestures of reconciliation.

The integrity of the political institutions has been eclipsed by the DUP’s hostility towards the Bill of Rights, an Irish Language Act, marriage equality and issues such as anti-poverty and racial equality strategies, tackling sectarianism, or dealing with the past.

These have defined the DUP’s mindset towards working in the Executive and Assembly.

RIGHTS AND RESPECT It’s now 50 years since the civil rights movement campaigned for a modest programme of democratic reforms in the North. Political unionism and the Northern state literally beat that agenda off the streets.

Last March and June, people gave their verdict on that reality.

They ended the political and electoral majority of political unionism in the Northern state and called time on the corruption of the political process.

The message was that the majority of citizens in the North are not prepared to be governed under terms set by the DUP or to go back to the status quo.

The democratic basis of the Good Friday Agreement and St Andrews Agreement are now under

in June.

The political institutions will only work if they are re-established on the basis of rights and respect to make them sustainable.

The DUP has recycled the notion of a parallel process being activated. That’s simply code for putting things back up as they were before.

The DUP leader repeated that she wants the Executive set up ‘tomorrow’ to deal with the problems bearing down on our public services due to Tory austerity.

If the DUP cannot embrace proper power-sharing and a rights-based approach to government, how is it going to tackle these other massive economic and social challenges (especially bearing in mind the DUP is now politically compromised in its support for Tory austerity policies)?

The DUP leadership is completely missing the point.

An Irish Language Act is about more than freestanding language legislation, albeit an essential requirement. The implementation of an Act is central to parity of esteem and proper, official

Ireland, one which has been and continues to be ridiculed and disrespected by senior DUP figures, among others.

The reason we need an Irish Language Act with official recognition and protections is that the Irish language is an indigenous language which has been persecuted and almost obliterated by the British state.

EQUALITY-BASED

What has now been brought directly into focus is whether political unionism can accept and co-exist in partnership with the Irish cultural tradition and Irish nationalist and republican identity.

The only way this can be achieved is through the implementation of the equality-based frameMISSING THE POINT work of the Good Friday Agreement to guarantee the rights of all citizens and sections of society, Since the summer, the DUP, the Ulster Unionist regardless of creed, culture, colour, class, political Party and extremists in political unionism, supported allegiance, or sexual orientation.

That is what the British and Irish governments by senior Orange Order figures have ramped up political opposition to an Irish Language agreed and the electorate endorsed at the ballot Act with the incendiary rhetoric box in 1998. of ‘cultural war’ and ‘supremacy’.

Nothing less than that minimum DUP leader Arlene Foster has standard is acceptable in the 21st said that the Irish language century state. threatens no one but she Fifty years on from the Civil also suggested an Irish Rights campaign, the rights and Language Act is an equality agenda must not be attempt to humilishortchanged. The days of anyone using the political ate unionism and the institutions here to show British way of life. disrespect and contempt That comment is as offensive as it is for, to sneer at or to deny blinkered. It also gives rights are over. the game away that It’s now ‘make your the DUP leader’s offer mind up time’ for politiof a parallel process 5 DUP leader Arlene Foster is wrong in claiming an Irish Language Act is a bid to humiliate unionism cal unionism.

6 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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5 Benburb: Members of the Cunningham family protested near where John Pat worked as a farm labourer

British Army veterans march in London for immunity from prosecution

BY PEADAR WHELAN & JOHN HEDGES BRITISH ex-military personnel have marched in London to demand that Parliament give them immunity from prosecution for controversial killings and shootings during the conflict in the North of Ireland.

The ex-soldiers took to the streets on Saturday 16 September under the banner of “Justice for Northern Ireland Veterans” in support of Dennis Hutchings, a soldier who served with the Life Guards regiment charged with the attempted murder of an unarmed civilian in 1974, John Pat Cunningham.

John Pat was physically 27 years old but he was a vulnerable adult with a mental age of between 6 and 10. He had a fear of men in uniform. He was shot in the back while running away from a British Army unit on patrol.

The British Army were already well aware of John Pat’s condition, cruelly underscoring this in the Life Guards operations log by describing John Pat as the “village idiot”.

The local GP had also made representations to the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary a year before John Pat was shot dead when the doctor had found him taking refuge in a ditch,

terrified because British soldiers were about to arrest him.

As the British Army veterans marched in London (some throwing their medals at Parliament), supporters of John Pat’s family responded to a call from human rights NGOs the Pat Finucane Centre and Relatives for Justice and held vigils in Belfast, Derry and Strabane as well as London, where the ex-soldiers held their protest.

The most poignant gathering was by members of the Cunningham family, including John Pat's aunt and cousins, near the field on the Carrickaness Road, close to the Servite Priory in Benburb where John Pat worked as a farm labourer.

A Press Association journalist covering the events at Whitehall in London reported that some of the ex-soldiers had hurled abuse at the respectful vigil highlighting John Pat’s case, shouting “scum”. One British veteran ludicrously claimed that John Pat was shot “before he blew innocent people up”. (The Daily Mail continues to describe John Pat as “an IRA suspect”.)

Another speaker at the ex-soldiers’ protest, in an attempt to shift the blame and responsibility on to the Cunningham family, maintained: “The whole area was cordoned off yet the family of John Pat Cunningham

5 Relatives for Justice case worker Jennifer McCann with Eibhlin Glenholmes supporting the family of John Pat Cunningham

5 (Inset) John Pat Cunningham and (main image) the scene of his killing by British soldiers

thought it was sensible to let a boy or a man with an age of 12 out on the streets.”

Paul O’Connor of the Pat Finucane Centre, who attended the demonstration in London, reminded observers: “John Pat Cunningham is the victim in all this.”

The political campaign calling for immunity for British military personnel who served in the North has intensified since the soldier Hutchings was arrested and charged in 2015. It took on an added intensity when, in December 2016, two paratroopers were charged with killing Official IRA Volunteer Joe McCann in the Markets area of Belfast in 1972.

Demanding an end to the “witch-hunt” against British soldiers, the immunity campaign has been backed by the Fleet Street media as well as the Tories and various generals.

In the North, unionists of all shades attacked the Director of Public Prosecutions, Barra McGrory, over his decisions to level charges against armed forces personnel involved in controversial killings.

The tone of the debate in the Tory press can be summed up by Conservative MP Johnny Mercer, a former British Army officer. He told The Sun newspaper: “This is a brand new witch-hunt as well as a total and complete betrayal by the Government of those who have done its bidding.”

DUP MP Ian Paisley added: “The dam is about to burst on our 5 Jim McCabe, whose wife Nora was shot dead by the RUC with a plastic bullet in July heroes.”

1981, takes part in one of several vigils at various locations

October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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SEÁN CROWE TD

Dáil spokesperson on Foreign Affairs

7

The President of the Catalan Government said that Spain has now ‘de facto suspended self-government and applied a de facto state of emergency’

Respect Catalonia’s right to a referendum WE HAVE SEEN millions of people march in Barcelona demanding the right to vote in a legally-binding, democratic referendum on independence from Spain.

The Catalan Government has timetabled such a referendum for 1 October. The Spanish Government has banned it.

Madrid said it will stop this democratic process going ahead. Actions by the Spanish security forces and administration have shown that they intend to carry out this threat.

Heavily-armed police are trying to frustrate attempts to have a democratic referendum and to stop a democratically-elected government in the EU from carrying out its mandate.

On 11 September, on Catalonia’s National Day, 1.5million people joined the annual pro-referendum march.

Recent polls indicate that 70% of Catalans want this referendum. Not all of them are pro-independence; many will vote ‘No’ to independence but they want the right to vote, the opportunity to vote.

We have seen important referendums on independence in Scotland and Quebec. Both times the pro-independence side lost the popular vote but it shows how normal and important such referendums are in democratic states.

The Catalan Government was elected in January 2016 on a legitimate platform that stated they would establish a binding referendum on independence.

Despite the Catalan Government’s best attempts, the Spanish Government continues to deny this democratic mandate and the demands of the Catalan people for this democratic referendum.

We have seen some extremely disturbing events unfold in Catalonia.

Armed police from the Spanish Guardia Civil have raided the headquarters of the Catalan Government, arresting 14 high-ranking civil servants and public officials, and invaded the offices of at least one major political party.

We have seen armed police visiting newspaper offices, shutting down websites, and s e a rch i n g s to ra g e warehouses and print centres, seizing voting boxes, ballots, leaflets and political posters.

More than 700 Catalan mayors who support the referendum have been threatened with judicial prosecution.

Spain’s Constitutional Court has imposed daily fines of up to €12,000 on Catalan officials for every day they continue organising the referendum.

Even school principals hosting polling stations are being threatened with criminal prosecution.

This goes against all values of democracy and the right to self-determination.

Three ferries with the capacity for 4,000 armed members of the Guardia Civil docked at Catalan ports on 20 September. What do they plan to do?

How is this an acceptable response to the democratic demands for a referendum?

5 2014: The late Martin McGuinness, Seán Crowe TD and Gerry Adams TD show support for Catalonia

The President of the Catalan Government said that Spain has now “de facto suspended self-government and applied a de facto state of emergency”.

He said the move is an “unacceptable situation in democracy”.

When elected officials are detained for political reasons and ballot boxes for a popular and democratic referendum are seized, we must speak out.

When newspapers are threatened and democracy is denied, surely we have to say enough is enough.

These raids and arrests have triggered massive, peaceful demonstrations that have seen tens of thousands of Catalans demand the most basic of rights – the right to vote in a democratic referendum.

Thousands in the Basque Country and Galicia have also taken to the streets in solidarity.

These unprecedented attacks by the authorities in Madrid on fundamental rights, and civil and political liberties are putting democracy in Catalonia at risk.

The Irish Government must make clear its concerns about the actions of an EU government.

The silence on Catalonia must be broken.

I have met Catalans living in Ireland outside the gates of Leinster House where they were protesting the Spanish Government’s actions.

They were extremely upset about the attacks

When elected officials are detained for political reasons and ballot boxes for a popular and democratic referendum are seized, we must speak out

5 Sinn Féin activists protest at Belfast City Hall in September against the Spanish state’s crackdown

on the democratic rights of Catalans and they pleaded with me and other TDs to speak out and support the right of Catalans to self-determination.

We have a responsibility to speak out when regressive actions threaten democracy in Ireland and around the world.

This is one of those moments.

A red line has been crossed by the Spanish Government in Catalonia.

The people of Catalonia should have the right to democratically decide their own future in a legally binding referendum on 1 October and the Spanish Government should end its heavy-handed tactics in an attempt to stop this democratic vote.

8 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

www.anphoblacht.com

SECURE HOMES MUST SURELY BE A

POLICY PRIORITY

BY AMY WARD MOST PEOPLE are fortunate enough never to have to experience homelessness. But for those of us who have, it can be a traumatic experience, notoriously difficult to escape from, with far-reaching and long-lasting consequences.

There has been much written about the effects on life chances and health of children and young people who have experienced homelessness.

Children enduring such isolation spend the rest of their lives struggling to catch up with their peers. Having lived through intermittent periods of homelessness as the child of a single parent, and then again as a lone teenager, I felt as though my life was on hold.

Homeless teens generally avoid involvement with the child welfare system, yet they are ineligible to use shelters and are too young to qualify for financial assistance. This is a pervasive problem, making this already extremely vulnerable age group most at risk of exploitation.

At 16 to 18, I fell between the cracks in the system. Unable to claim benefits, not a ward of the state, unable to rent my own home, I found myself ‘sofa surfing’, working behind bars for £3 an hour, while I somehow managed to study for my A-Levels.

As a young member of the ‘hidden homeless’, I faced significant barriers in accessing my education, something my peers took for granted. I was not a ‘problem child’, or of ‘low morals’, nor was I a ‘delinquent’ or any of the other pejorative terms used to describe homeless teens. And nor would it matter if I had been.

As it was, I sought sanctuary in school and was an A-grade student who worked from the age of 13. The stereotype of the homeless teen is a false one. Given the wrong set of circumstances, anybody of any age could find themselves in a position where they’re dependent on others, living in temporary accommodation, or worse.

As a firm believer in the transformative power of education, I managed to make it to university, albeit three years behind my peers. I fear that for homeless youngsters today, however, against whom the odds are stacked even higher in a system rigged entirely against them, schooling

is an almost impossible goal, forced low down the priority list by basic survival.

Having volunteered in many shelters, it is plain to see that, in the years that have passed, little has changed in terms of negative public perceptions of the homeless, compounding feelings of inadequacy that never quite leave, making this

my first self-disclosure, known until now only by those very close to me at the time.

DELIBERATE POLITICAL CHOICE The current crisis has not happened in a vacuum, and while the publication of individual personal stories may have emotional power and appeal to

5 Dáil housing protest by Sinn Féin Oireachtas members and activists

people’s sense of justice and compassion (and in that regard are useful for drawing public attention to the issue) this approach detracts from a more serious analysis of how class power and ideology operates in Ireland.

The homelessness epidemic is the outcome of deliberate political choice; it is how economic and political power manifests itself in Ireland.

We have, on the one hand, a class of people denied the right to a home and subjected to exorbitant rents; on the other hand, landlords who impose and receive these rents and the speculators who profit from limiting the supply of housing.

Meanwhile, state subsidies and tax breaks continue to line the pockets of developers and landlords to the tune of millions of euro without promoting the provision of homes in significant numbers. All of this points directly to the failure of a housing strategy that relies on private sector finance and delivery.

As Fintan O’Toole has written in the Irish Times: “If tax breaks for developers created a stable housing market and good urban planning, we’d be living on Paradise Island.”

This is not news, and yet an individualistic assessment of inequality continues to dominate – that poverty is a result of people’s own inaction, lack of ambition and general fecklessness. It’s an idea propagated by an economic and political

October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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5 The Apollo House ‘Home Sweet Home’ occupation in Dublin in January thrust the homeless crisis into the daily news headlines

elite whose power rests in the myth that there is no such thing as class or class struggle Ireland.

CHURCH AND STATE The moralising of poverty and the notion of the undeserving poor has a long history in Ireland, remaining long after the welfare and poor law reforms. This is due in no small part to the very specific relationship between church and state, with the moral and political authority of the former left untouched or indeed strengthened by successive national revolutions.

The absence of a fully-functioning welfare state meant that church institutions, along with charities, were granted key roles in health, education and welfare provision. With the demolition of the workhouse came a new type of institution in which to warehouse the most vulnerable in society: mother and baby homes, industrial schools, Magdalene laundries and orphanages.

These religious institutions coercively confined the ‘immoral’, thus saving respectable Irish society from risk of contagion whilst maintaining that theirs was an act of mercy as opposed to a way in which to dominate and condition the poor – the hand that feeds also controls, after all.

Nothing illustrates the divide in societal values quite so starkly as the homeless epidemic insofar as the balance between private and public interest has been too far weighted towards the private.

walking the streets from 8am till 8pm with young children, trying to find somewhere to stay.

With so few HAP (Housing Assistance Payment) tenancies available, private sector housing will continue to be out of the reach of the majority of recently homeless people, regardless of how ‘affordable' they are deemed to be.

Even for those who are working, in minimum wage employment an average of 60% of their income would be spent on rent alone.

I was unusually lucky in that I was eventually allocated a tiny council flat and yet it was still all but impossible to make ends meet. Merely

5 The homelessness epidemic is the outcome of deliberate political choice

creating roofs for people fails to tackle the structural inequalities that perpetuate the cycle of poverty.

A PLURALIST APPROACH On the Government’s own estimate, the state can build a social home at an average cost of €191,000.

Unite the Union has noted that if the Government were to increase Employer’s PRSI contributions to EU levels this would raise an additional €8billion for public investment. Committing just half of this additional revenue (€4billion) to social housing would provide an additional 20,942 social

FINANCIALISATION OF HOUSING The rise of neoliberal political philosophy and the financialisation of the housing market in the decades preceding this scandal provides an important context: severe cuts in public investment in social housing and an increasing emphasis on the privatisation laid the basis for the acute crisis that sees mothers such as my own finding themselves

5 State subsidies and tax breaks continue to line the pockets of landlords

9

homes and create tens of thousands of additional jobs, both directly through the front-loaded investment in construction and related sectors and indirectly through induced employment (demand created by the increased purchasing power of those employed).

If the Government was serious about tackling inequality, surely making sure people have a safe place to sleep at night, council-owned, secure homes must surely be a policy priority.

With conservative targets set and ultimately missed, the regurgitation of earlier announcements and ‘plans’ presented as new, leaving the scale of the crisis in no way matched by policy implementation, it is little wonder that people are angry.

Of course, no government could solve the issue within the space of a couple of years but the lack of any discernible political will to confront such enormous financial issues as the role of NAMA; the land hoarding of developers who receive tax cuts, then wait for prices to rise before they build, leaving buildings and areas derelict; and the abdication of the responsibility of local authorities and public agencies to provide housing (not to mention the billions in back taxes owed

by Apple) is a clear demonstration of where the leading parties’ priorities lie.

If we are to see a real, discernible improvement in the homeless situation, then is time for time for a pluralist approach to ensure a broad-based housing campaign on both parts of the island, including the development and advancement of solutions along the lines of those being proposed by the constituent parts of the Irish Left.

This would attract popular support and be a step towards the abolishment of a rule that shouldn’t exist, one to which I and others like me don’t wish to be considered the exception.

10 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

www.anphoblacht.com

EU plans more centralisation against Irish national interests

BY EOIN Ó MURCHÚ IRISH CONCERNS about Brexit have naturally centred on the impact of the development on further cohesion of the economies North and South, the issue of a ‘hard’ Border and consequent problems for existing trade with Britain.

This has meant concentrating on the implications of Brexit for the Good Friday Agreement and the demand for a Border poll in a context where the unity of Ireland – economically, politically or both – is the only rational solution for the problems that confront us.

But, behind the scenes, storm forces are gathering with the intention of driving the so-called European project forward to a more and more integrated EU – effectively a superstate in Europe.

There are three aspects of this which should give rise to immediate concern.

Firstly, there is a renewed emphasis on developing a military intervention policy.

As Sinn Féin MEP Liadh Ní Riada has warned, this integrated “defence” policy opens the way for a new imperialism in which Irish neutrality will be absorbed in the military adventures already being planned.

Secondly, leading circles in the EU are openly talking of developing more centralised economic control.

Out-and-out integrationists (such as Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, French President Emmanuel Macron and French Finance Minister

Behind the scenes, there is a push towards a more integrated EU – effectively a superstate in Europe

5 Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker wants the EU to have one economic policy

determination, notwithstanding Irish concerns, to push this proposal through “within months”.

Just like with the bank bailout, Ireland’s loss will be Europe’s gain.

And if the EU is to have a Finance Minister, why not a Prime Minister?

This is the question which is being posed by EU planners, and Juncker in his ‘State of the Union’ address put forward the idea of combining the positions of

Commission President and Council President, with consequent directing power over all aspects of the EU. This is indeed the European superstate against which Sinn Féin with others warned during the various Treaty debates

on Maastricht, Nice, Lisbon and the Fiscal Compact.

Juncker in particular has been quite clear in demanding the abolition or extreme limitation of any member state’s right of veto over planned developments, such as the tax harmonisation policy.

On top of this, in the Brexit negotiations we have Michel Barnier refusing to entertain any idea of compromising

Bruno Le Maire) are calling for ‘Europe’ to have one economic policy, with one Finance Minister to ensure that member states are “unable to interfere with central economic policy”, as Le Maire has put it.

Le Maire argues that the eurozone must develop into “a true economic continent” or disappear.

Of immediate concern, of course, is the demand for a common tax harmonisation policy. The central aspect of this is that multinationals should not be taxed where they carry out their production but where they sell their products.

This means that the multinationals based in Ireland would not pay their tax to the Irish state (which provides only a small part of their market) but to Germany and France, where the big populations – and big markets – are to be found.

Even the ESRI has estimated that this could cost us four billion euro annually in lost revenue – at a time when we need increased expenditure to solve the problems of housing, pension provision and public services in general.

But Le Maire has announced his 5 Sinn Féin MEP Liadh Ní Riada has warned against the threat posed by an ‘integrated defence policy’ to Irish neutrality

EU trade rules to facilitate the avoidance of a hard border in Ireland.

It’s clear, then, that, despite the honeyed words from the EU, Ireland and Irish interests will be sold out in the talks – not least because the Irish Government has not insisted on separate negotiations with both sides.

Dublin is content to leave it all in the hands of Brussels, even while current developments show us an EU ploughing full-steam ahead in a direction that

If the EU is to have a Finance Minister, why not a Prime Minister? totally contradicts any notion of Irish national sovereignty and independence of action.

We left it in the hands of Brussels when the banking crisis hit us and the Irish people have paid a massive price not just to deal with our own crisis but to save the whole European banking sector.

For EU leaders, Ireland is of no account when push comes to shove – because they know that the supine Europhile government we have will never shove.

We must be careful then that, however pressing immediate concerns may be, we should not lose sight of the bigger picture: we need to be fully aware of the danger to our national sovereignty of the plans currently being concocted in Brussels.

October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

www.anphoblacht.com

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Whistleblowers, RTÉ and the licence fee TG4 – a channel whose programming, devoid of the big celebrities and names, is forced through necessity to be creative and interesting (in fact, in many aspects its programming, TG4 is superior to that of its ‘big brother’).

It is quite amazing that at a time when RTÉ has continued to slash its own in-house productions (and that’s before we start looking at the wages of

BY MARK MOLONEY RTÉ has warned staff that they will be “held to account” after an anonymous Twitter account claiming to be a long-time station producer took to the web to divulge information about life at the station.

The “Secret RTÉ Producer” Twitter account has been excoriating in its criticism of senior management at the station. The account claims that petty infighting and “internal politics” have stifled creativity at the broadcaster. Coupled with the fact that practically no new staff have been hired since 2008, the station is becoming stale.

One new person who did join the station in recent months, however, is Dee Forbes. Taking over as RTÉ Director General last year, her appointment was met with much fanfare. The mainstream Irish

Discovery Networks is the owner of trash-TV channels such as TLC media was keen to point out her impressive CV and previous position as President and Managing Director of Discovery Networks.

For those who keep abreast of the current state of the media, however, it should have set off alarm bells. RTÉ is a public service broadcaster; Discovery is very far from serving such a remit.

Discovery Networks is the owner of trash-TV channels such as TLC while the Discovery Channel itself has taken a nosedive in terms of quality, focusing on cheap-to-produce reality-TV and pseudo-science shows such as American Guns and Alaskan Bush People rather than the nature and science documentaries it was previously recognised for.

In contrast, RTÉ is mandated to “to be accurate, fair and impartial, and to remain independent from all state, political and commercial influences. RTÉ must provide a comprehensive range of programmes in the Irish and English languages that reflect the cultural diversity of the whole island of Ireland and include programmes that entertain, inform and educate. It must cater for both majority

RTÉ is an incredibly important player when it comes to current affairs, even though its impartiality may be in question some high-profile presenters) it should be looking for more state funding. Last year, the curtain was closed on RTÉ’s Young People Department.

Staff in children’s programming were left devastated: “We were told very coldly at half-past-five by a team of men in suits that the department was closing down in three weeks’ time,” one employee 5 RTÉ presenter Miriam O’Callaghan probably not told the Irish Times. “Anyone who is on contract being updated on world affairs by Vogue Williams was told their job was gone. Staff employees would production team building, the first thing you walked be redeployed within the company. Everyone by for years was Young People’s Programming. It was devastated and a lot of people were in tears.” always was busy, bursting with the youngest and In other areas, drama and documentaries have usually most enthusiastic people in RTÉ. Now the been replaced by the likes of The Voice of Ireland lights are off. Only a genre head executive producer 5 Taoiseach Leo Varadkar with new RTÉ Director and First Dates Ireland – Irish editions of popular and the odd straggler. It had been diminished for General Dee Forbes Dutch and British series. the last 15 years.

‘The Secret Producer’ described the station as and minority interests and its programmes and “When I joined it had The Den, even after Zig services must be offered free-to-air to the whole becoming “the opposite of Logan’s Run” (a science and Zag left there was Dustin and Socky. But the fiction novel and film in which everyone reach- Commissioning Editor cancelled that and replaced community.”

Dee Forbes has been quick out of the blocks to ing the age of 21 is terminated) with no young or it with stuff that kids didn’t want to watch. Stuff call for an increase in the TV licence fee, the bulk enthusiastic staff: parents would approve of, rather than kids would “When you walk into Stage 7, which is the TV want to watch. Gradually everyone in the departof which goes to RTÉ with a smaller slice going to ment got old.”

When it comes to current affairs, RTÉ is an incredibly important player. While its impartiality may be in question, there can be no doubt that, as the private media market becomes more and more consolidated around a single individual, public service broadcasters have a vital role to play.

It was therefore quite surprising to see privately-owned media outlets move quickly to attack the alleged whistleblower.

The Irish Independent ran an article entitled “Why the ‘secret RTE producer’ is really a simple rat”! The Indo also ran another piece with the startling revelations that internment aficionado and sometime RTÉ presenter and socialite, the vacuous Vogue Williams, had the nerve to blast the individual behind the Twitter account as “just some loser”.

Perhaps these hit-pieces are aimed at dissuading disgruntled Indo staff from spilling the beans 5 RTÉ puppets Zig and Zag share the limelight with Fianna Fáil’s Albert Reynolds at the 1989 TV Awards from within their Talbot Street HQ.

12 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

www.anphoblacht.com

Nothing new in Malachi O’Doherty’s new book on Adams

BY CIARÁN QUINN THE BEST BIOGRAPHIES detail the experiences that mould and shape the life of their subject. We travel with the biographer as we discover the new, the unknown actions, and untold anecdotes that reveal the person.

This biography is different.

Gerry Adams: An Unauthorised Life,

by Malachi O’Doherty, tells us more about the biographer than the subject.

There is nothing in this book about Gerry Adams that is not already in the public domain. What we do learn is that Malachi O’Doherty really doesn’t like or understand republicans and republicanism. And he really doesn’t like Gerry Adams.

All good biographies need a distance and an objectivity that should let the story of a life lived tell itself. Here it is obvious that the author is not objective.

of the time, the sectarian pogroms or the discrimination against nationalists and Catholics rife in Belfast. In common with the rest of the book, it puts unattributed, sneering comments forward as fact to raise a question about Gerry Adams’s character. He even questions the truthfulness of a story Gerry told about his First Confession in church. “Gerry’s sin was cheating at marbles, however that was done.”

In the section dealing with the onset of the conflict, again context is dropped in favour of contradictory narratives.

One proposition by O’Doherty is that the IRA and republicans were completely inept and amateur, while also being extremely devious and strategic in drawing first the unionist establishment and then the British Government into a conflict. The Falls Curfew by the British Army was badly done and Bloody Sunday was a “calamity”.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary are described in their dealing with civil rights protesters as “stolid and disciplined constables”!

The burning of Catholic homes is explained because: “The loyalists swarming onto the Falls perhaps really did fear the police had been overwhelmed and that the Shankill was exposed to invasion by the IRA.” God forbid that it was actually the same sectarian pogroms which had existed in the 19th century as well as

5 The RUC – ‘Stolid and disciplined,’ according to Malachi O’Doherty in news to many nationalists

5 It’s clear the author really doesn’t like Gerry Adams

No political context, no objective outlining of the conditions of the time, the sectarian pogroms or the discrimination against nationalists and Catholics rife in Belfast

There is nothing new in this book He selects and presents history to serve his narrative and not an exposition of the subject.

In his view of history, republicans always wanted a war, wanted conflict on the streets. They had a plan to provoke conflict. The ruling unionist Establishment was benign and the actions of the British Government were simply foolish.

The first part of the book deals with the 1950s and early 1960s, painting a picture of an idyllic time when there was no conflict and no trouble. In the oddity of this book this section reads as more of a memoir than a biography. It is as if the writer grew up beside Gerry Adams, went to school with him. The reason for this is that it draws heavily from Gerry Adams’s own writings and his autobiography, Before the Dawn.

This book offers no political context, no objective outlining of the conditions

since the foundation of the gerrymandered unionist state.

The terminology used in the book is largely pejorative to the point of Establishment, anti-republican propaganda, so IRA Volunteers are “blooded” in the same way packs of dogs would be for hunting.

Much of the credibility afforded to Malachi O’Doherty is that he grew up in west Belfast in an estate called Riverdale. He adopts the mantle of an ‘insider’ who became outspoken, an honest and fearless writer, while the vast majority of us are lackeys, caught up in the cult of Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams.

I too grew up in Riverdale, although years apart from Malachi. And there are telling references in the book that demonstrate that history and fact is set aside when it doesn’t fit with the narrative.

In one section, the Military Reaction Force of the British Army is described as

“stirring up trouble by shooting at civilians”. What is omitted is that the same unit was responsible for shooting dead Patrick McVeigh and wounding four others about 200 yards from Malachi’s family home – the indiscriminate killing by the British forces that could never make it into his book.

5 The Falls Curfew by the British Army was ‘badly done’

Malachi O’Doherty claims that Gerry Adams is a millionaire. When asked to explain this, he said it was based on

October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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13

5 Malachi O’Doherty

earnings from books and Westminster from when he was an MP. It is, however, widely known in the media (and by Malachi) that Sinn Féin MPs do not receive any salary from Westminster.

And his books have not made him a million, either in Gerry’s or Malachi’s dreams.

Another contradictory narrative in the book relates to the allegation that Gerry Adams was in the IRA. This is a

The terminology is largely pejorative to the point of Establishment propaganda well-rehearsed area of speculation but that is not even questioned by Malachi.

He puts forward the view that Gerry Adams was not only in the IRA but ran the IRA as well, at the same time not being liked or in any way good at being in the IRA. Make sense of that as you will.

Outrageously, the book repeats the claim from the RUC Special Branch that Pat Finucane was in the IRA and that he was shot instead of Adams. The author adds, without any evidence: “Finucane would take a bullet for Adams, or, in fact, 14.” This is what passes for insight

by O’Doherty.

He references state collusion between unionist death squads and the British state only once and even then it is dismissed as “laxity” in the actions of the British forces.

5 The 1960s Civil Rights movement and its violent suppression by the RUC showed that the old Stormont regime was not benign

The final section of the book deals with more contemporary issues that have been well-rehearsed and reads more like a cut-and-paste job from reports of the time.

Just as Malachi’s ‘credibility’ stems from being from west Belfast but not actually representing the views or experiences of many from that community, some of the

contributors are former IRA Volunteers and ex-prisoners; some stayed with the Officials, all oppose Sinn Féin.

In common with each other, they are all proud of their contribution to the republican struggle and yet they contribute to a book that at its core is anti-republican and damning of their actions. Many of these contributors

turn up endlessly on TV and in print.

They have a parasitic relationship with Gerry Adams. Their views are afforded more prominence in the media over other republicans only because they are stridently critical of Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams in particular.

Reading this book is a waste of time.

If you are looking to this for an

Outrageously, Malachi O’Doherty repeats the claim from the RUC Special Branch that Pat Finucane was in the IRA insightful and objective analysis of Gerry Adams, you might as well spend your time slapping yourself in the face with the Sunday Independent. It offers nothing new except an insight into the mind of Malachi O’Doherty. And that is not a good place to visit.

‘TWEE, CONCOCTED TONE THAT JARS’ THE IRISH NEWS is no fan of republicans or Gerry Adams but even Political Correspondent John Manley was scathing about Malachi O’Doherty’s book on Gerry Adams.

The Sinn Féin leader’s “political career and personality warrant deep scrutiny, though too often the authors of such pieces are clouded by bias and a predetermined agenda”, John Manley said under the headline “Lack of new revelations means Gerry Adams biography ultimately disappoints”.

He added: “This book isn’t a polemic though the author’s obvious contempt for and resentment of the Republican Movement and its methods are never far from the surface.

“And while it’s non-fiction, the early chapters rely heavily on O’Doherty’s imaginings and recollections of 1970s Belfast, alongside many of Gerry Adams’s own experiences, as recalled in his memoirs.

“The effect is to give the narrative a rather twee, concocted tone that jars, given that the expectation

is for something much more sober and factual.

“Nevertheless, there are plenty of O’Doherty’s peers happy to be quoted on the jacket, telling us how significant its contents are. ‘Illuminating’, ‘judicious’ and even ‘Conradian’ are among the adjectives applied. At times I was forced to ask myself whether we’d read the same book.”

And, the Irish News Pol Corr, ends: “Arguably, many may regard the book’s most startling revelation to be the author’s claim that ‘Gregory Campbell is both intelligent and funny’.”

14 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

www.anphoblacht.com

Sheena Campbell, killed by collusion, 16 October 1992

‘IT WAS SHEENA WHO TURNED OUR ELECTORAL THEORY INTO PRACTICE’ GERRY ADAMS

the Torrent Strategy, reconstructing the way the party approached elections and canvassing.

Sheena orchestrated three politically-significant and successful council by-election campaigns in 1991, including the election of Francie Molloy in an area traditionally with an SDLP majority.

A political activist from her early teenage years, founding a local Youth Against H-Blocks group, by her early 20s Sheena was Chair of the Upper Bann Sinn Féin Comhairle Ceantair. She sat on the party’s Six-County Executive and the Ard Chomhairle.

In 1985 and 1989, she stood as a council candi-

BY TARA BLEEKS-KENNEDY SHEENA did not see her killer. She sat with her back to her assassin who, holding a handkerchief over his face, shot her through the heart. With a final coup de gráce he stood over her and fired one last shot into her head. The remarkable life of Sheena Campbell was over.

The Queen’s University Law student and Sinn Féin activist lay dead on the floor of the York Bar in Belfast, her cries for freedom silenced, the shadow 5 Sheena with her grandad Seamus Cairns and her of collusion hanging over her body, her young son mother Jean Fagan Caolan left without his mother. state involvement with loyalist paramilitaries in the targeting and assassination of Sheena.

Evidence clearly shows that arms of the British Government in Whitehall – Military Intelligence, the British Army, the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Ulster Constabulary – colluded with unionist death squads in the assassination of Catholic targets.

The British Government used state violence on citizens in its jurisdiction as a means of political control.

Political conflict academic Ted Robert Gurr (1986) defines state violence as a rational, intentional choice and proposes that one of the necessary preconditions for the use of state terror is the existence of a class, group, or party that the ruling elite see as a threat to its continued rule. Sheena Campbell – the girl from Ardowen in Craigavon, with the infectious laugh, vibrant personality and It is 25 years since the murder of Sheena Campbell blue eyeshadow – had been identified by British on the 16 October 1992. She was 29 years old Intelligence as a threat to the Establishment.

The killing had been well-planned. and entering her second year in Law when she Only two weeks previously, Sheena was stopped was shot by the Ulster Volunteer Force. There is a strong argument to be made that there was British at an Ulster Defence Regiment military checkpoint

Sheena had been stopped at an Ulster Defence Regiment checkpoint and her diary and university timetable taken

5 An Phoblacht, 22 October 1992

5 Sheena with her son Caolan, who was only ten years old when she was killed

and her diary and university timetable was taken from her.

The UVF assassin entered and exited the York Bar with ease despite a prominent security presence in that area at the time. Within minutes of her killing, Sheena’s car, which had been parked over a mile away from the shooting, was impounded and taken to Ormeau Road RUC Barracks.

Her murder remains unsolved despite her family learning at her inquest that two men had been arrested in possession with the murder weapon just months following her killing.

One year and twelve days later, on 28 October 1993, two of Sheena’s cousins, brothers Rory and Gerard Cairns, were shot dead in their home by masked UVF gunmen in front of their sister Roisín.

It was her 12th birthday. There is also overwhelming evidence that the state colluded with unionist paramilitaries in the targeting and assassination of the brothers.

Within the structures of Sinn Féin, Sheena Campbell was a rising star, an important backroom strategist. Gerry Adams credits her with turning the party’s electoral theory into practice by developing

The UVF assassin entered and exited the York Bar with ease despite a prominent security presence in that area at the time date and as Sinn Féin’s representative in the 1990 Upper Bann by-election, campaigning on a policy of lasting peace.

Sheena was a visionary. She was brave and intelligent, organised and methodical, working tirelessly to achieve the dream of a united socialist Ireland. When Sheena walked into a room she lit it up with her smile and sparkling eyes; her love of life was contagious. She is greatly missed.

While her memory will live on through the foundations she helped put in place for Sinn Féin’s electoral successes, and through precious memories of those who knew and loved her, the thought of where she would be today and what she would have achieved is too painful and real for her family.

Sheena Campbell, a law graduate, full of passion and sheer determination, moving mountains, charming the opposition, leading from the front while dancing to the revolution.

October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

www.anphoblacht.com

Fine Gael clings to power because Mícheál Martin and Fianna Fáil allow it

15

David Cullinane TD

Leo’s ‘Republic of Opportunity’ protects the status quo THE TWO conservative parties in this state have shared power between them since the foundation of the 26-County state. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have swapped places several times from the Opposition to the Government benches but the policies remain the same.

They see themselves as being there to protect the status quo.

They fear change.

They are not interested in building a true Republic.

The economic crash challenged this hegemony.

Fianna Fáil were badly bruised but Fine Gael stepped in and implemented their policies. They were supported in this by the Labour Party, who talked the talk but sadly failed to deliver. Bondholders were bailed out, NAMA was set up to save the banks, and ordinary people were thrown to the wolves.

Many lost their jobs; many more lost their homes.

The 2016 general election again challenged the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael grip on power.

An increase in the Sinn Féin vote presented them with a dilemma – talk to Sinn Féin or form an alliance to keep Sinn Féin out. They chose the latter.

For all the talk, spin and bluster, Fine Gael clings to power because Mícheál Martin and Fianna Fáil allow it.

Meanwhile, the crisis for many families continues. It is real; it is tangible. Record levels of citizens are in emergency accommodation with 3,000 children among them. The lack of social and affordable housing and the rising rents have created a housing emergency. Fianna Fáil’s solution is to give a tax break to developers. Fine Gael publish plan

after plan but fail to build the homes people need.

The emergency in health worsens as, day after day, record numbers of patients lie on trolleys, 600,000 patients are awaiting procedures, and many wait over two years simply to see a consultant. Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar talks about a “Republic of Opportunity”.

In an appeal to woo middle class voters, he promises them tax cuts. A closer examination reveals cracks in this proposal. He talks about reducing the marginal tax rate to below 50%. He forgets to mention that this will only impact on the top 14% income earners. For Leo, the other

86% can paddle their own canoe.

Sinn Féin wants to be in Government, North and South.

The people we represent cannot wait as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael continue protecting the insiders and the elites. They want change and they want it now. That places a responsibility on those who oppose their policies to offer a clear and credible route to Government.

The media obsession with who will make up the numbers and largely ignore what sort of policies they will implement continues. Sinn Féin is challenging this narrative.

Fine Gael’s trumpeted ‘Republic of Opportunity’ is a mirror image of the spin in Thatcher’s Britain

We want to work with any party or group who will work with us and deliver a fair, progressive and republican Programme for Government.

We know that Fine Gael’s trumpeted “Republic of Opportunity” is a mirror image of the spin in Thatcher’s Britain.

We will oppose this tooth and nail.

Sinn Féin is up for the challenge of Government. After the next election we will either be in Government delivering on a truly progressive and republican set of policies or in opposition, holding others to account.

We are capable of both.

16 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

www.anphoblacht.com

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin marks 20 years in the Dáil as a Sinn Féin TD

Laying the foundations together in Leinster House – this and the implementation of the First Dáil’s Democratic Programme, guaranteeing social and economic rights and true equality for all the people of Ireland.

For the first five years, Caoimhghín was the sole Sinn Féin TD and I was his only Sinn Féin co-worker and comrade in Leinster House.

We were pioneers. We were pathfinders for others who were to follow.

Caoimhghín was elected when the ‘dual mandate’ still existed, whereby TDs could also be members of local authorities. For Caoimhghín this meant a gruelling schedule of Dáil attendance

In the Dáil, it was an uphill struggle as Caoimhghín’s was one voice among 166

MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA

Ardmhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath, Parliamentary Assistant to Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD 1997-2014 ON 26 June 2017, I had the honour to be elected Ardmhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath in Dublin’s City Hall. Exactly 20 years earlier, on 26 June 1997, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin walked through the gates of Leinster House, on the new Dáil’s first sitting day, as the first participating Sinn Féin TD, proudly representing the people of Cavan and Monaghan.

5 1981: Caoimhghín with Armagh POW Síle Darragh and Owen Carron, Bobby Sands’s election agent

For most of the years between those two events, Caoimhghín and myself worked together in Leinster House.

So much history, so many historic connections.

City Hall, where my election as Ardmhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath took place, was occupied by soldiers of the Irish Republic in Easter 1916.

The Mansion House, Teach an Ardmhéara, where I live and work during my year in office, was the meeting place of An Chéad Dáil Éireann on 21 January 1919.

When Caoimhghín took his seat in 1997, a large group of republicans walked with him from the Mansion House to Leinster House, symbolising our

We used the position in Leinster House to help build Sinn Féin across the island unswerving belief that to fulfill the Proclamation of the Irish Republic of 1916 and the Declaration of Independence of 1919, we must work for a Dáil that is truly Dáil Éireann – a Dáil for all of Ireland, all 32 Counties.

That was reiterated in January 2009 when a special sitting of the Dáil took place in Teach an Ardmhéara to mark the 90th anniversary of An Chéad Dáil Éireann. Caoimhghín, as Dáil leader of Sinn Féin, said in his address: “As we mark the 90th anniversary of the First Dáil, we look forward to a day when the elected representatives of all the people of our country will once more gather in the national assembly of a united Ireland.

“Creidimíd go dtiocfaidh an lá sin agus is ar a shon atáimíd ag obair. Is é sin ár gcuspóir. Is é sin an dóchas a bhí anseo 90 bliain ó shin agus atá fós ann. Is é sin an bealach ar aghaidh do phobal na hÉireann uile.”

This was the aim that guided Caoimhghín and myself over the nearly two decades we worked

5 1984 European elections: Seán MacManus, Mary McGing, Caoimhghín and the late Eddie Fullerton

in Dublin combined with meetings of Monaghan County Council, the Health Board and numerous other committees. And, on top of that, as a key regional and national leader of Sinn Féin, he had multiple duties in that capacity which entailed countless late nights and early mornings. He had – and has – a deep-seated work ethic, pushing himself to the limit and always striving for better for the cause to which he has dedicated himself.

Initially, this relentless schedule was a bit of a shock to myself. One of the features of the first few weeks working with Caoimhghín from September 1997, when I started in the Dáil, was my eventually successful effort to convince him that it was necessary to eat! (That said, it was a sandwich at the desk rather than a break for lunch or evening meal.)

All this was taking place at a momentous time.

The Peace Process was at its most crucial stage.

Negotiations in 1997 and 1998 led to the Good Friday Agreement. The spotlight was on Sinn Féin and we were involved in intense engagements, internally and externally.

Caoimhghín, to add to his many duties, played a key role in promoting the Peace Process and successfully bringing republicans together on the common path of a new strategy for peace, democracy and Irish unity. The unity and cohesion that was maintained among republicans at a time of such great change was due in no small measure to the leadership provided, both locally and nationally, by Caoimhghín.

The broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin in the 26 Counties had only been lifted since 1993 and

We had a relentless schedule at a momentous time – the Peace Process was at its most crucial stage

5 Mícheál Mac Donncha with Caoimhghín launching the Sinn Féin ‘Better4Health’ policy

the party was just beginning to build a political challenge to the total domination of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It was to be a long road ahead.

In the Dáil, it was an uphill struggle as one voice among 166.

Speaking time was severely restricted. Media opportunities were limited, especially where the ‘national broadcaster’, RTÉ, was concerned.

I recall on one time when Caoimhghín asked Taoiseach Bertie Ahern a key question on the Peace Process and received a reply that was deemed newsworthy. The Taoiseach’s reply was duly carried on RTÉ News but not Caoimhghín’s

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5 Leaders – Caoimghín’s election in 1997 is celebrated by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness

5 The 2002 election saw Martin Ferris in Kerry North, Aengus Ó Snodaigh in Dublin South Central, Arthur Morgan in Louth and Seán Crowe in Dublin South-West join Caoimhghín in the Dáil

question – in fact, he was not even mentioned.

When I challenged the RTÉ correspondent on this he replied: “What the Government says is news. What others say is views.”

On another occasion, Caoimhghín submitted a written question which exposed the fact that Bertie Ahern had brought in a package of special privileges for former Taoisigh, including a paid secretary for life! The Sunday Independent reported the reply on page 2 but never credited Caoimhghín with the question. When I challenged the journalist he told me to “get off your high horse”.

Years later, much to his puzzlement, I reminded

RTÉ and the ‘Sunday Independent’ reported newsworthy replies obtained by Caoimhghín through his Dáil questions but seldom credited him

him, in Caoimhghín’s presence, that I still did not own a horse.

During that first term there were some veteran TDs who were more vociferous than others in their utter hostility to Sinn Féin and their regret that we were even allowed to exist, notably the likes of Des O’Malley.

I recall an inebriated Fine Gael TD heckling Caoimhghín during one of his first Dáil speeches (a tradition that some continue today). Others did not know what to make of us. One journalist described curious TDs looking up at Caoimhghín in his back row seat as if he were an exotically-coloured bird perched in a tree.

Some, especially in Fianna Fáil, seemed to believe that Sinn Féin was a ‘Northern party’ and our policies were not to be taken seriously, making them a little puzzled when we voted against the Fianna Fáil Government. We were happy to assist in their political education over the following years.

Challenging as those days were, it was a great privilege to carry the Sinn Féin banner to that level. It became a rallying point for Sinn Féin across the country as we used the position in Leinster House to help build Sinn Féin.

Significant advances were made in local elections in 1999, notably in Counties Cavan and Monaghan. (Indeed, the story of Sinn Féin’s growth in those counties is a remarkable one, ahead of their time in many ways, and one that needs to be written – hopefully by Caoimhghín himself some day.) But the Dáil breakthrough of 1997 helped build for the local election advances of 1999 across the 26 Counties and on to the further breakthrough of the 2002 general election.

You can imagine the satisfaction of Caoimhghín and myself in 2002 when we were joined by four new Sinn Féin TDs in 2002 – Martin Ferris in Kerry North, Aengus Ó Snodaigh in Dublin South Central, Seán Crowe in Dublin South-West and Arthur Morgan in Louth, and the support staff that came with them. This meant there were great opportunities and great challenges also as we built a Dáil team, including our TDs and support

5 Des O’Malley: Utter hostility

staff, and moulded them into a collective, working as a collective, with all voices valued.

Much could be written about the years that followed and the development of Sinn Féin to its

I recall an inebriated Fine Gael TD heckling Caoimhghín during one of his first Dáil speeches unprecedented strength today. For that advance, huge credit is owed to Caoimhghín Ó Caoloáin TD. But for now I salute my comrade and friend Caoimhghín as we recall the time, 20 years ago, when together we rolled up our sleeves and laid the foundations.

18 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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BRITAIN’S MURDEROUS COLONIAL POLICY IN IREL AND AND SRI L ANK A |1

Exporting police death squads | From Armagh to Trincomalee

|1

BY PEADAR WHELAN THE British Government’s support for the indiscriminate military repression of Tamils by the Sri Lankan regime will be under even greater scrutiny now that a Tamil widow has lodged a complaint with the North’s Police Ombudsman over the killing of ten of her relatives in 1986 by a special police unit trained by the elite Special Support Unit of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, predecessor of the PSNI. The killings in Sri Lanka were carried out by the regime’s Special Task Force (STF) police commando unit. The STF was established after top police officers from the former British colony had visited Belfast to learn from their RUC hosts to aid their war with the Tamil Tigers guerrillas fighting for an independent homeland.

Belfast-based solicitor Darragh Mackin is representing the woman complainant. Her identity is being withheld because she fears being murdered by state forces.

“The Special Task Force would not have acquired the paramilitary characteristics of the SSU without the engagement between the RUC and the Sri Lankan police,” Mackin said.

Reporting on the Tamil woman complainant’s case human rights activist and researcher Phil Miller stated that senior Sri Lankan police officers visited Belfast in 1983. This was just months after the RUC’s Special Support Unit ambushed and killed six men in Armagh in what became notorious as the ‘shoot-to-kill’ assassinations linked to a deliberate British Government strategy of killing rather than arresting suspects.

IRA Volunteers Seán Burns, Eugene Toman and Gervaise McKerr, INLA members Seamus Grew and Roddy Carroll, and 17-year-old civilian Michael Tighe were shot dead by the RUC unit described by Miller as an elite squad trained by the SAS whose rules of engagement were to use overwhelming “firepower, speed and aggression”.

In her complaint to the North’s Police Ombudsman, the woman refers to a series of letters dated from 1983 in which Sri Lankan diplomats asked London for help with “commando operations training” for a superintendent “who would be responsible for training and administration of a paramilitary unit to be set up here”.

students were injured from the explosion.

“Jeeps from the Sri Lankan police’s Special Task Force arrived soon after, accompanied by the Superintendent of Police Kapila Jayasekara.

Members of the STF, wearing full facemasks, put the youths into their jeeps and beat them with their rifle butts.

“The students were then pushed onto the road and shot on the seafront, by the statue of Mahatma Gandhi.”

All had been shot through the back of the head.

The website Together Against Genocide reported in January of this year that 13 STF officers were arrested in 2006 but released shortly afterwards.

They were then rearrested in July 2013, only to be released again in October 2013.

“The STF commander at the time [Kapila Jayasekara] was identified at the crime scene; he was not, however, among the STF officers arrested. On the contrary, he remains in the area and has since been promoted. In October 2014, the Government stated that the trial had been suspended in order to locate witnesses abroad.”

SAS TO KMS As a consequence of this exchange, senior Sri Lankan police officers visited the RUC in Belfast.

FROM ARMAGH TO TRINCOMALEE In his 2015 report, Exporting Police Death Squads: From Armagh to Trincomalee, Phil Miller reveals that Sri Lanka’s STF was established between 1983 and 1984, within a year of the ‘shoot-to-kill’ operations in Armagh. Those tasked with training this specialist unit were British mercenaries who had served in the SAS. While the British Government tried to distance itself from the activities of these mercenaries and STF atrocities, Miller uncovered new evidence that shows close links between these British ex-service personnel and the British Government in Whitehall.

A number of them “served in some of the British Army’s most sensitive operations in Northern Ireland” while former SAS Major Brian Baty – who commanded the SAS squadron deployed to South Armagh in 1976 – was the most senior British former special forces soldier in Sri Lanka in 1986 “where he trained the STF to fight the Tamil Tigers”.

One of the first recruits to the STF was Kapila Jayasekara, who commended the squad responsible for the murder in January 2006 of five Tamil students playing on a beach in Trincomalee – Sri Lanka’s military and naval HQ and which houses training bases.

The victims became known as ‘The Trinco 5’.

The Tamil Guardian reported: “At around 7:30pm, a grenade was thrown from a green three-wheeler towards the students which, according to reports, then proceeded into Fort Frederick, the army headquarters. Three of the

Phil Miller traces the role that an apparently private mercenary company (KMS Ltd) played in training Sri Lanka’s forces to implement the counter-insurgency plan.

Britain withdrew in 1948 from Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was known then), leaving behind a constitutional arrangement that handed power to the Sinhalese majority and the Tamils being disenfranchised and their language rights abolished.

Miller says that Tamil non-violent, Gandhian resistance gave way to sporadic armed actions until the anti-Tamil pogrom of ‘Black July’ 1983 ignited a full-scale war.

A month beforehand, two senior Sri Lankan police officers were in Belfast “to see at firsthand the roles of police and army in counter-terrorist operations”. And, according to Miller, the pair also attended MI5’s ‘International Conference on Terrorist Devices and Methods’ and visited the Metropolitan Police Special Branch at New Scotland Yard.

These visits were arranged by senior British Government civil servants.

Miller emphasises how even in this period – between 1979 and 1983, before the Tamil armed struggle had really taken off – MI5, with the

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5 Tamil solidarity mural, west Belfast

5 Tamil activists visit Milltown Cemetery

imprimatur of the Margaret Thatcher Government was already spying on London-based Tamil activists in London and sending senior counter-insurgency advisers to the Sri Lanka capital, Colombo.

This was, according to the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office, due to “the importance to us of Sri Lanka’s stability and pro-Western alignment”.

Blazing that particular trail for the British was John Percival ‘Jack’ Morton.

Morton served with Special Branch in the Punjab during the anti-colonial uprisings that led to the end of British rule in India. He subsequently joined MI5 and worked as a senior intelligence adviser in Malaya (1952-54) and in the North during the IRA Border Campaign (1956-62).

On his return to the North in 1973, Morton was tasked with reorganising the RUC’s Special Branch. Special Branch would gain the reputation of being “a force within a force” running unionist paramilitary death squads.

MERCENARY RELATIONS By 1984, the British were “discreetly” helping the Sri Lankan military by giving “tacit approval” to so-called private security companies (mercenaries) to “provide senior counter-insurgency consultants”, says Phil Miller.

Peter Ricketts, an aide to then Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, in a letter to Margaret Thatcher’s Private Secretary, talks of the deniable nature of this relationship, saying: “We have made it clear that this is a purely commercial matter and HMG are not involved.”

One of those “commercial” firms the British Government could hold at arm’s length but still ‘influence’ was KMS Ltd. KMS was founded in 1974 by ex-SAS Major David Walker and a former head of SAS Group Intelligence, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Nightingale. It was supposed to have taken its name from Keenie Meenie Services, variously said to be derived from Swahili, Arabic or SAS slang for covert operations.

KMS had already trained the feudal Sultan of Oman’s special forces and would go on to work with the right-wing the Contras in Nicaragua (where it is claimed it bombed a hospital as well as pipelines and harbours) and eventually the Taliban.

John K. Cooley has written about the role of KMS in Afghanistan, reporting: “It was indeed KMS, along with individual SAS veterans, to which the main British role in training holy warrior cadre for the Afghan Jihad seems to have fallen.”

In their official history, Sri Lanka’s STF refers to the training provided by KMS, including the use of the five psychological interrogation techniques used by British military and RUC Special Branch interrogators to torture internees and detainees in the North.

When its role in the Iran-Contra affair was exposed in 1987, KMS was dissolved and Saladin Holdings replaced it.

Archie Hamilton, Tory Defence Minister between 1986 and 1993 was a director of Saladin from 1993 to 1997, indicating how distant “Her Majesty’s Government” really was from its former special forces killers, including the SAS.

‘THE KILLING FIELDS’ The 30-year war in Sri Lanka officially ended in 2009 as the military cornered the Liberation

5 Tamil activist Jude lal Fernando with Phil Miller's 'Dirty War' booklet in Belfast recently

Tigers of Tamil Eelam fighters and civilians into what became known as ‘The Killing Fields’, liquidating up to 70,000 people.

300,000 ethnic Tamil civilians fled the fighting, only to be rounded up and ‘screened’ for militant sympathies in squalid barbed-wire internment

5 Special Task Force – set up after commanders briefed by RUC in Belfast on ‘shoot-to-kill’ assassinations

camps. By August 2009, Amnesty International warned that this system of indefinite and arbitrary detention included some 50,000 children.

It may be a coincidence that this was precisely the six-month period when two senior PSNI officers, Duncan McCausland and Gary White, were seconded from the PSNI and deployed to Sri Lanka by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. The pair, who retired from the PSNI with the ranks of Assistant Chief Constable and Chief Superintendent respectively, were ordered “to act as a ‘critical friend’ to the Sri Lankan police” and provide “hands-on assistance”.

Corporate Watch has discovered through a Freedom of Information request to the PSNI that the itinerary for their first visit included “high-level meetings with Inspector General of Police” Jayantha Wickramaratne, who trained in Scotland and the North during 2007.

As Inspector General of Police, Wickramaratne was part of the ‘Task Force’ responsible for the administration of the internment camps.

As with so many aspects of the conflict in the North, the blanket of secrecy used to cover up Britain’s dirty war is gradually peeled back to reveal the lies and cover-ups.

The job ahead for the Police Ombudsman is surely to expose the subterranean dealings between the British state, the RUC and British Army during the conflict, and a Sri Lankan government that carried out genocide against the Tamil people.

20 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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REMEMBERING THE PAST

By Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD & Mícheál Mac Donncha

OCTOBER 1917

The rebirth of Sinn Féin DUBLIN’S Mansion House, Teach an Ardmhéara, has been the scene of many historic meetings. One of the most important was the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis of 1917 which adopted a republican constitution for the first time.

Many who were called Sinn Féiners in 1917 were not actually part of the Sinn Féin organisation but were in fact members of one of the many other nationalist or republican groups spreading across the country. But the name Sinn Féin carried weight for two reasons.

Firstly, up to 1916, it had been a common label for all nationalists who were more radical than the Home Rule Party. Secondly, this led to the 1916 Rising being called by the press and by much of the general public “The Sinn

“Which do you think we should do?”

Dillon replied: “The obvious and simplest course.”

Brugha then said: “That’s what well do.”

Griffith agreed to put the suggestion to the Sinn Féin National Council that half of them would stand aside to allow on six representatives from the Liberty Clubs and the Mansion House Committee. Thomas Dillon was to become joint honorary secretary while the president and paid officials would remain until the next Sinn Féin convention.

Sinn Féin accepted the proposals shortly afterwards.

The friction was still very close to the surface, however, and nearly boiled over during the Kilkenny by-election at the

By mid-1917, with a huge influx of members, Sinn Féin clubs were appearing across the country

Members ignored or rejected the original stated aim of Arthur Griffith for a ‘dual monarchy’

Féin Rebellion”. The organisation as such was not directly involved in the Rising, though many of its members were.

Prior to the Rising, Arthur Griffith’s Sinn Féin was floundering but, by mid-1917, with a huge influx of members, Sinn Féin clubs were appearing across the country. Such were their numbers that the affiliation fees allowed for the maintenance of a head office at 6 Harcourt Street in Dublin and for two paid organisers to take to the roads.

In the main, the members ignored or rejected the original stated aim of Arthur Griffith for a “dual monarchy” (i.e. maintaining the link with England through the crown but with an independent Irish parliament). The Rising had brought the demand for an Irish Republic to the fore.

end of July, with one group proposing to stand Eoin Mac Néill and another opposing him because of his countermanding order on Easter Sunday 1916. Eventually, William Cosgrave – a longtime Sinn Féin member, a Volunteer officer and a recently-released prisoner – was nominated. Cosgrave won the election with a two-to-one majority.

In August, preparations began for a Sinn Féin convention to be held in October. It was now called an Ard Fheis.

Apart from electing a new officer board, the main focus of the Ard Fheis would be to pass a new constitution for the party.

The move away from Arthur Griffith’s dual monarchy towards republican principles was to cause much acrimonious debate between Griffith and Brugha especially. At one stage, the

The Liberty Clubs suggested by Count Plunkett after his by-election victory in February 1917 were also expanding rapidly. They were at a disadvantage, not having the false reputation of having organised the 1916 Rising or having a central office.

The Irish Volunteers were also growing at a pace but were antagonistic to Arthur Griffith’s dual-monarchy proposals.

A Mansion House Committee had been set up in April 1917 to pursue the unification of all republicans under the

one banner and held a meeting in early June 1917. Representatives of the Liberty Clubs and Sinn Féin (including Cathal Brugha, Thomas Dillon, Count Plunkett, Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith, Rory O’Connor and some others) were there to attempt to prevent further fractures and to move towards unification. The meeting was held in Cathal Brugha’s house in Rathmines and was hot and heavy.

It was suggested to Griffith that he hand over Sinn Féin to the Volunteers

but Griffith was having none of it.

“Sinn Féin will not give up its name,” Griffith said. “I was elected president by a convention of Sinn Féin and I can only give over the presidency to somebody elected by another convention.”

Nearing the end of the debate (the last tram would be passing soon) Thomas Dillon said that the alternatives open were to found a new organisation or take over Sinn Féin on conditions to which Arthur Griffith agreed.

Dillon recalls Cathal Brugha asking:

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The move away from Griffith’s dual monarchy towards republican principles was to cause much acrimonious debate between Griffith and Brugha especially

Cathal Brugha

republicans walked out, with Éamon de Valera succeeding in bringing them back and agreeing a compromise.

Arthur Griffith chaired the Ard Fheis when it met on 25 October and gave a

Count Plunkett

In August, preparations began for a Sinn Féin convention to be held in October report on the state of the organisation.

There were 3,300 clubs representing more than 250,000 members and 1,700 delegates from 1,000 clubs. Sinn Féin

Michael Collins

Constance Markievicz

5 Arthur Griffith with Éamon de Valera

was also financially sound, with £1,272 to its credit.

He then gave a short history of Sinn Féin from the beginning and said that without the sacrifice of 1916 the organisation would not have been as strong as it was. Cathal Brugha then proposed the changes to the Sinn Féin Constitution, which were carried without discussion. The key section was the wording proposed by de Valera, presented as a compromise but clearly republican: “Sinn Féin aims at securing the international recognition of Ireland as an independent Irish Republic. Having achieved that status, the Irish people may by referendum freely choose their own form of government.”

The Constitution also stated that Sinn Féin, in the same of the sovereign Irish people, shall: “Deny the right and oppose the will of the British Parliament and British Crown or any other foreign government to legislate for Ireland.

“Make use of any and every means available to render impotent the power of England to hold Ireland in subjection by military force or otherwise.”

The next item on the clár was the

election. Both Arthur Griffith and Count Plunkett stood down in favour of Éamon de Valera in the presidential race. The Dublin Castle authorities had considered suppressing the Ard Fheis but allowed it to go ahead in the belief that, with three candidates for the presidency, the organisation would split.

Arthur Griffith and Fr Michael O’Flanagan were elected vice-presidents, W. T. Cosgrave and Laurence Ginnell were elected honorary treasurers, and Austin Stack and Darrell Figgis became honorary secretaries.

A council of 24 was elected which bore very little resemblance to the old Sinn Féin.

Constance Markievicz failed in her

attempt to prevent Eoin Mac Néill from being elected (in fact, he topped the poll).

The members of the new Council of Sinn Féin were: Eoin Mac Néill, Cathal Brugha, Michael Collins, Ernest Blythe, Richard Hayes, Fionán Lynch, Seán Milroy, Constance Markievicz, Count Plunkett,

A council of 24 was elected which bore very little resemblance to the old Sinn Féin Piaras Beaslaí, Joseph McGuinness, Harry Boland, Kathleen Lynn, J. J. Walsh, Fr Matt Ryan, Joseph McDonagh, Fr Wall, Mrs Thomas Clarke, Diarmuid Lynch, David Kent, Dr T. Dillon, Mrs Joseph Plunkett and Seán MacEntee.

In his acceptance speech, de Valera made it clear where he stood: “We say it is necessary to be united under the flag under which we are going to fight for freedom – the flag of the Irish Republic. We have nailed that flag to the mast; we shall never lower it.”

Thomas Dillon wrote that Arthur Griffith remained a monarchist, believing that a monarchy on Scandinavian lines would be better than a republic, and that Griffith accepted the new constitution perhaps because of the respect he had developed for de Valera. Of course, the new Sinn Féin had risen on a tide of post-1916 republicanism and Griffith was in no position to hold it back. But his non-republicanism, and that of his followers, remained, albeit below the surface in Sinn Féin. As Fr O’Flanagan later stated, division re-emerged when Griffith brought back the Treaty from London in 1921.

But that was all in the unfathomable future.

One hundred years ago this month, in October 1917, hopes were brighter than ever as Sinn Féin embarked on its new mission to achieve the Irish Republic.

22 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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ANOTHER EUROPE IS POSSIBLE |TREO EILE DON EORAIP

FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNITED LEFT/NORDIC GREEN LEFT (GUE/NGL)

EP Brexit Co-ordinator in Ireland to hear Brexit fears MEP MARTINA ANDERSON met with the European Parliament Brexit Co-ordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, in Belfast on 20 September to discuss ‘Special Status for the North Within the EU’.

The Ireland North MEP was part of a Sinn Féin delegation led by the Sinn Féin leader in the North, Michelle O’Neill MLA, which met with Verhofstadt in Parliament Buildings at Stormont.

The senior Belgian MEP, the European Parliament’s point man on Brexit, was in Ireland for a two-day visit to meet political parties to discuss the impact of the Tory Brexit agenda.

Speaking after the meeting, Martina Anderson said: “From my regular meetings with Guy Verhofstadt he is well aware of our concerns over Brexit and the disastrous impact it would have on Ireland.

“We told him that we could not withstand any exclusion from the Single Market and Customs Union, allow the return of borders of the past, or deny citizens access to the European Courts of Justice.

“We need to see new thinking instead of the confused and unworkable proposals coming from the Tories who regard Ireland who have no regard to Ireland when it comes to their Brexit agenda.

“We welcome this opportunity to engage with Guy Verhofstadt in Ireland and will continue to engage with people across the EU to build

5 Michelle O’Neill MLA meeting with Guy Verhofstadt at Stormont Parliament Buildings with Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile and Martina Anderson MEP

further support for our case for the North to have Special Status Within the EU.” Guy Verhofstadt was also meeting with

politicians and community leaders along the Border as well as representatives of the anti-Brexit lobby group, Border Communities against Brexit.

He then travelled to Dublin where he held a series of meetings with political parties and addressed the Dáil on the impact of Brexit.

The ambiguous role played by lawyers must also be scrutinised by the Swiss authorities in cracking down on money-laundering and financial crimes, he said: “While in the past it was Swiss banks that were the most active in setting up shell companies for tax evasion, 90% of the structures set

up by Swiss agents revealed in the Panama Papers were the product of lawyers.

“The Swiss authorities need to act to close these loopholes for promoters of tax evasion schemes and end this excessive secrecy that has made their state a centre of money-laundering and financial crime.”

Swiss tax justice whistleblower gets MEP Matt Carthy’s backing SWISS WHISTLEBLOWER Rudolf Elmer’s fight for tax justice and transparency has been lauded by Matt Carthy MEP during a fact-finding mission by MEPs to Switzerland – the top-ranking country in Tax Justice Network’s most recent Financial Secrecy Index.

Elmer, who has endured harassment and imprisonment by the Swiss authorities over many years, avoided jail last year after he was acquitted of breaking banking secrecy laws, a criminal offence in Switzerland.

The meeting with Elmer came as a delegation of MEPs from the Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion assessed the current state of play regarding tax avoidance and money-laundering in Switzerland, and what the country’s authorities have been doing to improve banking transparency.

Commenting on the visit and on meeting Elmer, Irish MEP Matt Carthy said: “It was an honour to meet Rudolf Elmer who has been fighting a 12-year legal battle against the Swiss state.

“Despite being found not guilty last year of breaching Swiss bank secrecy laws, this whistleblower has been harassed for more than a decade, fined more than €300,000 and denied compensation for having to spend more than 200 days in solitary confinement.”

As for the fight for tax justice and greater transparency in the country, Matt Carthy said a lot more still needs to be done: “Switzerland has made some positive steps forward in terms of adopting certain international standards on exchanging tax and bank

Matt Carthy MEP

account information. But financial secrecy continues – and it is not a victimless crime.

“Last year, the UN criticised Switzerland after it received a submission from a number of development NGOs outlining how Swiss policies of financial secrecy directly and negatively impacted on women’s rights, for example,” he said.

The Ireland North West MEP also blamed Switerland’s right-wing administration for refusing to expand the automatic exchange of banking information with and to see what impact financial secrecy has on dozens of developing countries.

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ANOTHER EUROPE IS POSSIBLE

Martina Anderson

5 GUE/NGL MEPs Nikolaos Chountis, Liadh Ní Riada, Martina Michels and Curzio Maltese

Education – a common good, not an elite privilege FIGHTING funding cuts and working for investment in education across the EU was the focus of a conference ‘Quality Education for All’, organised by the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament and co-hosted by Ireland South MEP Liadh Ní Riada in September.

The event heard from experts including teachers, professors and local government officials from across Europe on their own experiences and long-term effects of cuts – as highlighted in a parliamentary committee opinion on EU action for sustainability earlier this summer.

Italian MEP Curzio Maltese says a proper discussion on this subject is now more important than ever: “Education is a common good that is becoming a privilege for the elite. Ensuring access to quality education must be a priority for the European

institutions since the subject is never discussed, or when it is it is merely reduced to a discussion based on economic values.”

Greek MEP Nikolaos Chountis, who moderated part of the debate, agreed: “The neo-liberal perception of education policies in Europe has degraded the very nature of education and has put the emphasis only on simple skills and training – based on market imperatives alone.

“And let’s not forget the additional challenges faced by the education systems posed by the economic crisis and austerity policies alongside the current refugee crisis.”

For co-host Liadh Ní Riada MEP, issues such as the cost of education and assisting students with special needs are of great concern: “In some weeks, students are faced with the

decision of buying food for themselves or buying pricey course material to enable them to progress.

“What we do not need is to make a commodity of our education sector or customers out of our students,” says the Irish MEP. German MEP Martina Michels, who delivered the closing remarks, said: “Good education ensures democratic participation and interest in the future.

“Education feeds abilities and motivation for independent learning.

“Education is a human right. It must be provided by public services for all children, minors and adults, for migrants and refugees, regardless of gender.

“We must demand this from the political leaders and to accompany it in the European context.”

Matt Carthy

Lynn Boylan

Lynn Boylan MEP fights back against ditching Ireland’s neutrality DUBLIN MEP Lynn Boylan has criticised comments

by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker once again promoting EU military integration, this time in his ‘State of the European Union’ address on 13 September.

Juncker said he wants the EU to become “a stronger global actor” and added: “In order to have more weight in the world, we must be able to take foreign policy decisions quicker. This is why I want member states to look at which foreign policy decisions could be moved from unanimity to qualified majority voting. The Treaty already provides for this, if all member states agree to do it.

“And I want us to dedicate further efforts to defence matters. A new European Defence Fund is in the offing. As is a Permanent Structured Co-operation in the area of defence.

“By 2025 we need a fully-fledged European Defence Union. We need it. And NATO wants it.”

Lynn Boylan said that Juncker’s comments are

part of the ongoing efforts by a number of leading figures to add a military dimension to the EU. The Dublin MEP said: “Neutrality has always been at the centre of Ireland’s foreign policy and Irish people overwhelmingly support the continuation of this policy.”

She said that a report commissioned by Irish NGO Peace & Neutrality Alliance (PANA) in 2013 showed that 80% of Irish people support neutrality.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs recognises the importance of Irish neutrality,” she said.

The Irish Government department says on its website, she pointed out: “Irish neutrality goes hand in hand with our promotion of international peace and stability.”

Lynn Boylan continued: “Ireland has a special position within the EU as one of the only neutral member states and this has not limited Ireland’s role in humanitarian missions. Any moves towards an EU defence union would be a further erosion of national sovereignty.

Liadh Ní Riada

Lynn Boylan MEP

“Much on the instability we are seeing in places such as Iraq and Syria is a consequence of the failed policies of military alliances – policies that were aimed at providing greater levels of global security.

“Any suggestion the Ireland should be part of strengthening Europe's commitment to the failed policies of militarisation does nothing to increase Irish security or seriously address the causes of global instability.”

are MEPs and members of the GUE/NGL Group in the European Parliament

www.guengl.eu

TREO EILE DON EORAIP

24 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

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Republican Youth solidarity in Catalonia

BY NAOISE Ó FAOLÁIN JUST DAYS before the Spanish state placed Catalonia under siege ahead of the 1 October independence referendum called by the Catalan Government, 25 members of Sinn Féin Republican Youth were guests of youth movement Joventus d’Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (JERC) to take part in the Catalan National Day on 11 September.

The Spanish state’s crackdown on the democratic poll began with threats to arrest more than 700 mayors supporting the referendum, police raids on printers of referendum information, and orders to postal workers not to handle mail-shots. Websites were blocked. Squads of armed paramilitary police descended on Catalonia Government offices to arrest and threaten officials and also seize ballot boxes. Madrid moved to freeze Catalonia’s finances It was in the build-up to all this that the SFRY delegation arrived in a tense Catalunya.

Solidarity between Sinn Féin Republican Youth and JERC (Young Republican Left of Catalonia) has been long established. Members of JERC are invited annually to attend the SFRY National Congress and this has created a strong sense of solidarity between the two organisations . As well as attending Catalan National Day celebrations (which are renowned for the mass mobilisation of millions), SFRY were also invited to engagements with the Asemblea Nacional Catalana (Catalan National Assembly).

IN PICTURES

The Irish republican activists were given a tour of Barcelona City Hall by Alfred Bosch. Alfred is a former Mayor of Barcelona and prominent pro-Catalan independence politician from Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Left Republicans of Catalunya), the senior party of JERC. There they were told about the history of the parliament, its artwork and architecture, and how the mechanisms of local government could be used to advance the left republican ideas of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya.

On Monday 11 September, the SFRY contingent flew the flag for Ireland at La Diada, the National

and how that creates a sense of nationhood For them, this conveyed the importance of the full implementation of the ‘Plean 20 Bliain’ and Acht na Gaeilge. The importance of our native language remains a crucial element of our own national liberation struggle. As Mairtín Ó Cadhain said: “Is í slánú na Gaeilge Athgabháil na hÉireann agus is í Athgabháil na hÉireann slánú na Gaeilge.”

Now the SFRY members are back in Ireland but Spain’s suppression of the democratic voice of the people of Catalonia continues. So Sinn Féin Republican Youth activists are involved in solidarity actions across the island of Ireland to

Sinn Féin youth activists attended Catalan National Day as Madrid ramped up repression

It was striking that a unifying factor for the Catalan people is their language

Day rally in which two million Catalans take to the streets to demand their national sovereignty.

La Diada remains a huge spectacle that attracts activists from around the globe who are supporters of national sovereignty in their respective home countries.

The event is organised by the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC), a group whose youth wing also engaged with SFRY activists. The Assembly is a broad movement similar to Scottish ‘Yes’ campaign. It includes political parties, trade unions, economists, academics, community groups, youth

help raise public awareness as the mainstream media sidelines the issue of an EU state banning political rallies and armed police confiscating ballot boxes.

The Catalan Parliament was suspended on the morning of Wednesday 20 September.

General Franco, the military dictator who was in power from 1939, may have died in 1975 but the shadow of fascist Spain still looms over Catalonia.

International solidarity and pressure is vital to enable the Catalan people to freely express their will through the democratic process.

organisations and unaligned members of society.

The Assembly has organised many national demonstrations (including a human chain that spanned the length of Catalunya) and the People’s Referendum of 2014, in which the Catalans expressed their desire for freedom.

SFRY activists found it striking that a unifying factor for the Catalan people is their language

photos@anphoblacht.com

5 Sinn Féin Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn speaks at the 5 2017 Sinn Féin Summer School in Baile Bhúirne, County Cork, 5 Volunteer Diarmuid O’Neill Commemoration in Timoleague, west Cork, with main foot of Benbulben in County Sligo at a commemoration to panel: John Finucane, John Connors, Emma Dabiri and Sinn Féin’s speaker Sinn Féin TD Pat Buckley honour Sligo’s Noble Six Toireasa Ferris

5 Thomas Ashe Centenary Commemoration in Dublin

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Nach ngoilleann cás na dtóigeálaithe ort?

SEA, goilleann sé go mór cás na dtóigeálaithe is na dtiarnaí talún.

EOIN Ó MURCHÚ

D’réir tuairisc san Irish Times, ní féidir le tóigeálaí ionad cónaí a dhíol ar €325,000 toisc go bhfuil an corrlach ró-bheag le brabús a dhéanamh. Níl aon leigheas ar an scéal truaímhéalach seo ach an t-ualach cánach ar an tóigeálaí a laghdú.

Sea, ní mór airgead a fhaightear ó cháin ar thuarastail ghnáthoibrithe a úsáid le brabús an tóigeálaí a mhéadú.

Agus céard faoin tiarna talún bocht. Agus d’réir na dtuairiscí sé ‘bocht’ an focal ceart.

Tá na tiarnai céanna, is cosúil, ar tí sé mhíle ionad cónaí a chur ar fáil dá ligfí arís mionárasán nó bedsit a ligean ar cíos. Mhínigh urlabhrai dá gcuid, go bhfuil na tiarnaí talún i ndiaidh na mílte euro a chaitheamh ar mhionárasáin a fheabhsú, agus iad ag iarraidh a gcuid a dhéanamh le réiteach a fháil ar fhadb na tithíochta, ach níltear ag ligean dóibh.

Ní hamhmáin go bhfuil polaiteoirí na heite deise ag insint na scéalta amaideacha seo, ach tá na meain lán díobh.

San idirlinn, tá fadb na tithíochta ag dul i méad. Tá níos mó daoine ná riamh curtha amach gan áit cónaí, agus na mílte leanaí ina measc.

Tá na cúirteanna ag ceadú go rialta go gcuirfeadh na cistí súmaireachta daoine as a gcuid tithe, is ta cíosanna ag dul trí an díon.

Agus níl aon leigheas ar an scéal seo ag an rialtas nó ag a lucht tacáíocht i bhFianna Fáil ach iarracht a dhéanamh cabhrú leis an rannóg phríobháideach tuilleadh brabúis a dhéanamh as riachtanaisí daoine.

Ach tá’s againn go bhfuil leigheas ann. Tá sé ráite is athráite gur thug an stát faoi fhadbanna den chineál céanna i dtréimhse roimhe nuair nach raibh na hacmhainní ceanna ar fáil is atá anois.

Sé sin, thóg an stát, tríd na comhairli áitiúla, eastáit tithíochta ar fud na tíre. Is d’eirigh leis na scéimeanna tóigeala seo tithíocht a chur ar fail go forleathan.

Agus is léir, mura féidir leis an rannóg phríobhaideach dul i ngleic leis an bhfadb tithíochta seo a fhaganns an oiread sin daoine gan dídean nó saite in árasáin ar árdchíos – agus is léir nach féidir – caithfidh an stát é a dhéanamh arís.

Ach thiocfadh se sin salach ar idé-eólaíocht an dream in uachtar, is na bpolaiteóirí i bhFine Gael is i bhFianna Fáil.

Cén leigheas, mar sin, ach fáil réidh le rialú an dá pháirtí sin, agus páirtí a réiteóidh an scéal a chur i mbun rialtais?

Cén leigheas ach vótáil Sinn Féin?

5 Band of Brothers: Gerry with the International Brotherhood of 5 Strong message on the Labor Day march Electrical Workers Band, Local 3

5 Rita O’Hare and Teamsters’ Union international rep Bernadette Kelly with Gerry Adams

Gerry Adams on a roll at NY Labor Day Parade NEW YORK’S Labor Day Parade took place in Manhattan on 9 September, a beautiful end-of-summer day, with thousands representing the 1.5million unionised workers across New York, writes Rita O’Hare.

This is a big, loud, proud and uplifting

show of solidarity and union strength with people’s chants and music by bands and musicians echoing along Fifth Avenue.

It’s also very much a day for union members and their families to celebrate their achievements and their commitment to the trade union movement.

Gerry Adams , Richard McAuley and I were there among the banners, floats and bands, meeting up again with some of the trade union delegations that came to Dublin at Easter 2016 to celebrate the 1916 Rising centenary and the American connection with Ireland

down the centuries.

Our guide was Martin Glennon of the James Connolly Irish American Labor Coalition .

Gerry was warmly welcomed by laborers, operating engineers, electricians and teamsters among many others

The IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Band, the Sword of Light, who travelled to Dublin and Belfast last Easter to march with us in the 1916 commemorations, welcomed Gerry with a special tune and drum roll salute that brought smiles to our faces.

Americana

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Irish music is being colonised by American music – ROBERT ALLEN wants to know why no one has noticed guitar man Steve Earle arrived in the West. He fell in love and promptly wrote about his experience, recording a track with box player Sharon Shannon for her Diamond Mountain Sessions.

Earle explained: “Two or three years back (in the late ’90s) I took a little sabbatical in Galway to work on my book and not write songs.”

He never managed it. Galway Girl was one of four songs he wrote.

“A year later I was back surrounded by women who play like angels and the results speak for themselves.”

NOT THE FIRST “NOW take Leo Hallissey for example,” sings Luka Bloom for the infamous Letterfrack sessions of the early ‘noughties’, “he’s a bogman.” To background laughter, he strums his guitar. “He’s a bogman,” rhyming, the audience beginning to sing along.

“I’m a bogman. Deep down it’s where I come from.”

You know what, he’s right. We all come from the bog and no matter where we travel it is where we come from.

Have we forgotten this again? Ten years before those sessions, we had forgotten. The term was derogatory.

We had even forgotten why we wrote ballads and songs and made music, and now we no longer make songs for fun or make songs that matter.

“Why is there no one like Christy [Moore] anymore?” asks a man from Ballycastle, taking the time to lament the sounds of the ’70s and ’80s when Planxty wanted everyone to follow them up to Carlow – “rooster of a fighting stock, would you let a Saxon cock crow out upon an Irish rock, fly up and teach him manners”. And Moving Hearts wondered whether this was the end of our pride and glory – “if you stand up for what you believe in be prepared to be shot down, oh what will you do about me?”

Around the time Leo Hallissey was organising his bog weeks and sea weeks around the sound of the sessions (and thinking about putting out a few CDs),

5 Donal Lunny and Christy Moore played with Moving Hearts

The man who wrote The Revolution Starts Now was not the first American songwriter to seek the muse on our western shores. Seattle singer-songwriter Jim Page arrived around the time of the anti-nuclear demonstrations at Carnsore in the late 1970s and promptly wrote Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Russian Roulette and was forever grateful for Moving Hearts’ rendition: “This is the power of the future and the future marches on / and they call in all their favours / all their political gains / while the spills fill the rivers and settle in the plains.”

Page said he wrote songs to change the world and many people in the 1970s and 1980s believed the songs being sung by Christy Moore and the lads and lassies were changing ideas about the world we were living in.

It wasn’t to be.

The likes of Page might be the last of their kind, Christy Moore and all those who wrote songs for the Hearts probably are. The writing was on the CD sleeves in the early noughties. “I don’t care if your heroes have wings, your terrible beauty has been told.”

Americans Eve Cassidy, Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss got to appear on A Woman’s Heart – A Decade On, and everything had changed, just when we thought the next Irish generation would emerge with those new ideas to perform songs with generation-changing lyrics.

Who, now, will write about the 21st century Allende: “It’s a long way from the heartland to Santiago Bay,

5 Luka Bloom

where the good doctor lies with blood in his eyes and the bullets read US of A?” Who, now, will explain why there is no time for love in the morning? “You call it the law – we call it apartheid, internment, conscription, partition and silence.”

Who, now, will tell our history: “We are a river flowing.”

A NEW WAVE Americana is a term associated with a type of music from North America. It is not easily defined. The tag emerged in the late 1990s as a marketing tool for a ‘new wave’ of American music.

The Coen Brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou? gave it credence through the acoustic guitar sound of Norman Blake and John Hartford, and gave it substance with the soothing voices of Alison Krauss and Gillian Welsh, musicians hardly heard of in their own country at the time.

As a musical genre, Americana ran much deeper, back to Appalachian, Latin-American and Afro-American influences.

Deliverance, John Boorman’s cinematic interpretation of James Dickey’s novel set in the Appalachians, introduced a banjo tradition that was as rustic as it was rebellious.

It wasn’t folk music and it certainly wasn’t country and western, or country and folk. It was something different.

It was called bluegrass.

It was also the beginning of a realisation among Americans that their world was being manufactured. These days they call it cinematic licence. The banjo-playing boy in the film could not play the banjo, he merely played an ersatz role. The banjo was played by a musician called Mike Addis and the tune was called Feudin’ Banjos, written in 1955 by a guitar player called Arthur Smith.

When Smith heard his music on the film he demanded compensation and royalties and recognition. The film company offered $15,000. Smith sued and got a settlement plus the royalties from what was now called Duellin’ Banjos but he never got the recognition.

Other musicians, fearing that their rustic music would also be colonised, became smart overnight. They demanded their rights and royalties. So when musicians like Mike

5 Sharon Shannon

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mediocre. Nesmith said it: “You and I travel to the beat of a different drum.”

And if Jim White could see the irony two decades ago, Steve Earle can hardly miss it now.

Galway Girl was mocked by the teenagers of Galway and Mayo when it filtered into the public consciousness in the mid-noughties. Used to the rustic sarcasm of The Saw Doctors, the girls (who knew what it was really like to be a Galway girl) rewrote the lyrics. They seemed to be saying, ‘Feck ya, here’s our reality!’

It was obvious, back in the 1960s, when the ‘hidden persuaders’ on Madison Avenue started to manipulate minds, that it would only be a matter of time before everything creative would be used to sell ‘objects of desire’.

THEY’RE BACK

Nesmith (best-known for his role in the television series The Monkees) watched as singer Linda Ronstadt, in her Stone Poneys days, recorded his song Different Drum, he never feared he would not get royalties when she became even more famous than him.

MADISON MARKETING MEN The marketing men of Madison Avenue, especially those who got involved with the film and music industries, had a different attitude. It was all about image and money. At the beginning, Americana became a device to sell America. Then it became something else – the “colonisation” of culture.

The good musicians associated with Americana in the early noughties were unconventional. They were people like . . .

TEXAN STEVE EARLE – “I want what’s over that rainbow, I wanna get out of here someday” – who wrote about elicit whiskey, fearless hearts, hard women, lost highways and working life; MILWAUKEEAN JIM WHITE – “I wonder, baby why don’t you cry?” – who wrote about despair, disaffection and disillusion, apathy and irony; LOUISIANAN LUCINDA WILLIAMS – “You drink hard liquor, you come on strong, you lose your temper, someone looks at you wrong” – who wrote about life and longing, and the ghosts of the Deep South; MISSOURIAN IRIS DEMENT – “We call ourselves the

6 (Clockwise) Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Iris Dement and Jim White

advanced civilisation but that sounds like crap to me, and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free” – who wrote about truth and reality, people and place.

This was real life, an antidote to the genre that was 6 Jim Page arrived around being misappropriated by copywriters, creative directors the time of the anti-nuclear protests at Carnsore in the late and compliant journalists.

Much of the rest of what was themed Americana was 1970s

Canadian Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message” and predicted that one day we would all live in a “global village” designed for one purpose.

The ancient Romans used “bread and circuses” to manipulate the people; today the modern Americans use music, media and technology, which they control with an iron fist.

What does Leo Hallissey think?

When Steve Earle was roaming the pubs of Galway City, Hallissey wondered about the impact.

“When you pick up the phone you hear a mid-American accent, that disembodied speech. They’d be better off putting tape recorders on us. Those dehumanising aspects of so-called progressive Ireland, the shapers and makers. I don’t like that slick marketing. It makes me uneasy.

It also devalues slower, deeper, older kinds of things.”

Sounds about right.

Now the Americans are back, attracted to the West because one of their own wrote a song that became a global hit. Sadly that is not going to happen to songs about dreamers, revolutionaries, the faithfully departed . . . and bogmen!

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FÓGRAÍ BHÁIS

Willie ‘Harry’ McKenna Tydavnet, Monaghan THE death occurred on Saturday 19 August of Willie ‘Harry’ McKenna at his Clarnagh, Tydavnet, home in County Monaghan.

Willie is survived by his wife Patricia, sons Paul and Cathal and daughters Ann, Jacqueline, Lorraine and Diane, and by 17 grandchildren. He is also survived by his only sibling, Kathleen, who lives in Scotland.

In his 78th year, Willie was the only son of the late Peter and Sarah Ann McKenna.

Willie gave stoic service to the republican cause throughout his lifetime.

He was an accomplished tractor mechanic who began his working life at the Monaghan Motor Works before working for a time in England, returning to Ireland in the mid-1960s.

A dedicated member of Alcoholics Anonymous for over three decades, Willie was also a 24/7 support to countless individuals and families, a fact acknowledged in a most thoughtful homily delivered by Fr Hubert Martin in the course of Willie’s Requiem Mass in St Dympna’s Chapel in Tydavnet.

Willie’s Tricolour-draped coffin was escorted from his home by a 30-strong Sinn Féin guard of honour.

Despite torrential rain, the same honours were afforded Willie on his final journey from the chapel to the nearby cemetery, where Dáil Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin presided over the republican graveside tributes.

Cathaoirleach of Monaghan County

Council Councillor Cathy Bennett laid a wreath on behalf of the Sinn Féin organisation across the county.

In his oration, Matt Carthy MEP said that, in terms of republican leadership, Willie was there for some 50 years.

“Crucially, Willie’s home became an important refuge. Willie and his family provided assistance and back-up to countless Volunteers who were forced to cross the Border. Willie was a pivotal part of that Border community that refused to be divided by an artificially-imposed line on a map.”

Willie was a founding member of the O’Hanlon/ South Sinn Féin Cumann, Golan, which he remained an integral part of until his death and a key figure in the electoral rise of Sinn Féin in Cavan/Monaghan, including the election to Monaghan County Council

5 2009: Receiving his Sinn Féin Honourees Award at a function in Castleblayney, Dáil Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Willie's wife Patricia, then Sinn Féin Vice-President Pat Doherty, Willie 'Harry' McKenna and Monaghan County Councillor Brian McKenna

of Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin in 1985 and then as a TD (see centrespread), Sinn Féin being returned as the largest party in County Monaghan on successive occasions, and Matt Carthy’s election

to the European Parliament in 2014.

Matt Carthy concluded: “On behalf of all Willie’s comrades in the republican family here in north Monaghan, and from all those in Sinn

Féin who had the honour of knowing him, I extend once again our heartfelt sympathy to Patricia and to all his loving family.”

John Leathem Belfast

S

ON HEARING of the death of John Leatham, Sinn Féin MLA Fra McCann described the well-known advice worker and LGBT activist in west Belfast as “a champion for the people of no property”.

John died in his Divis Tower home on Saturday 12 August after he succumbed to the cancer that he courageously fought against for so long.

Born 60 years ago, his unmarried mother, due to the social pressures of the time, placed her new-born baby into a Belfast care home. There – along with other defenceless, vulnerable children – he suffered years of horrendous physical and sexual abuse.

Falls resident Lily Leathem adopted John, took him into her Albert Street home and raised him as part of her family after his release from care. Such was his respect for Lily that John changed his birth name to Leathem.

John began community activism in the Falls area of Belfast early in the

EÁ N

COMMEMORATION

2017

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1980s when he became involved in the campaign to demolish Divis Flats and replace them with affordable social housing.

He went from there to work in the Falls Road Sinn Féin Centre in 1992 in the aftermath of the attack in which RUC member Allen Moore shot dead Paddy Loughran, Pat McBride and Michael O’Dwyer.

The Falls Road Advice Centre, with John as its leader, played a crucial role in promoting the community activism and street politics which West Belfast Sinn Fein became renowned for.

As Fra McCann said: “Literally thousands of people are living in homes today or have had their benefits sorted as a result of John Leathem and the team that staffed the Falls Road centre.

John gave evidence to the Historical Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Belfast care homes and was still actively

campaigning for the survivors to be adequately compensated.

As an openly gay man, John never tried to hide his sexual orientation. He saw it as a natural part of his identity and saw no contradiction with his community activism.

Almost seven years ago, John was diagnosed with cancer. He fought it with the same tenacity and determination he had fought for all the people of the Falls and beyond for all those years.

Shortly before he died, he found the time to attend a Housing Executive meeting on the Tuesday and the biggestever Belfast Pride parade on the Saturday.

John was a role model for those of us who fight for human dignity, equality and respect for all regardless of class, creed or sexual orientation.

He will be deeply missed by all those who had the immense pleasure to have known him.

BY ROBERT McCLENAGHAN

5 Sinn Féin MLA Fra McCann and John Leathem at Divis Tower

3:15pm SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER 2017 Guest speaker: Mary Lou McDonald TD

Chair: Councillor Martin Browne, Cashel

KILFEACLE CEMETERY, KILFEACLE, COUNTY TIPPERARY

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I nDíl Chuimhne 1 October 1977: Seán Ó CONAILL, Sinn Féin (Parkhurst Prison) 1 October 1996: Pat McGEOWN, Sinn Féin 2 October 1971: Volunteer Terence McDERMOTT, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion 2 October 1978: Volunteer Pat HARKIN, Derry Brigade 6 October 1972: Volunteer Daniel McAREAVEY, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion 9 October 1976: Noel JENKINSON, Sinn Féin (Leicester Prison) 9 October 1990: Volunteer Dessie GREW, Martin McCAUGHEY, Tyrone Brigade

Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations 25 PÁDRAIG PEARSE 10 October 1972: Volunteer John DONAGHY, Volunteer Patrick MAGUIRE, Volunteer Joseph McKINNEY, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion 16 October 1972: Volunteer Hugh HERON, Volunteer John Patrick MULLAN, Tyrone Brigade 16 October 1976: Volunteer Paul MARLOWE, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion; Volunteer Frank FITZSIMMONS, Volunteer Joseph SURGENOR, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion

16 October 1992: Sheena CAMPBELL, Sinn Féin 18 October 1974: Volunteer Michael HUGHES, Newry Brigade 23 October 1971: Volunteer Dorothy MAGUIRE, Volunteer Maura MEEHAN, Cumann na mBan, Belfast 23 October 1979: Volunteer Martin McKENNA, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion 23 October 1993: Volunteer Thomas BEGLEY, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion 24 October 1971: Volunteer Martin FORSYTHE, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion

October 1982: Peter CORRIGAN, Sinn Féin 26 October 1990: Tommy CASEY, Sinn Féin 27 October 1970: Volunteer Peter BLAKE, Volunteer Tom McGOLDRICK, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion 28 October 1976: Máire DRUMM, Sinn Féin 28 October 1987: Volunteer Paddy DEERY, Volunteer Eddie McSHEFFREY, Derry Brigade

30 October 1974: Volunteer Michael MEENAN, Derry Brigade 31 October 1975: Volunteer Seamus McCUSKER, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion.

Always remembered by the Republican Movement.

Comhbhrón MULVENNA. Deepest condolences are extended to the family and friends of Rita, who passed away recently. From the Halpenny, Worthington, Watters Sinn Féin Cumann, Dundalk.

75th ANNIVERSARY OF ÓGLACH TOM WILLIAMS 5 1981, National H-Blocks Committee: Bernadette McAliskey, Jim Gibney, Piaras Ó Dúill and Fergus O’Hare

Passing of Fr Piaras Ó Dúill, National H-Blocks Committee GERRY ADAMS TD expressed his “deep sadness” at the death on 5 September of Fr Piaras Ó Dúill, best-known for his high profile campaigning as National Chairperson of the National Smash H-Block Committee during the 1980/81 Hunger Strikes.

Fr Piaras was born in Kilmainham, Dublin, in 1931 and trained with the Capuchin Order in Ards Friary in north Donegal. He began working as Chaplain in St Brendan’s Hospital in the 1960s.

He was an avid Irish speaker and was a teacher of the language for a time.

The Sinn Féin leader extended his

“sincerest condolences to Fr Ó Dúill’s family and friends.

Deputy Adams said: “Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a dhéanamh le clann iomlán an tAth Piaras Ó Dúill.

“Bhí aithne agam ar an tAthair Ó Dúill ar feadh níos mó ná 40 bliana. Bhí suim mhór i gcónaí aige i gcoinníollacha na gcimí. Bhí sé corraithe go mór faoi na mná i bPríosún Ard Mhacha agus faoi na fir sna H Blocanna sna ‘70í a bhí ar agóid do stádas polaitiúil.

“I have known Fr Piaras for over 40 years.

2017

“He was always keenly interested in and concerned about the treatment of prisoners.

“During the late 1970s he was especially moved by the plight of the H-Block and Armagh women prisoners on protest over political status.

“When the broad-based National Smash H-Block Committee was established, he took on the difficult and challenging role of its first National Chairperson.

“To his family and friends I want to extend Sinn Féin’s condolences on his death.”

BY PÓL WILSON

NATIONAL GRAVES ASSOCIATION

A SERIES OF EVENTS took place to mark the 75th anniversary of the execution in Belfast Prison of Belfast IRA Volunteer Tom Williams on Saturday 2 September.

As dawn broke over Belfast on Saturday morning, a small floral tribute was placed on the railings of the prison where, on 2 September 1942, Tom Williams was hanged.

At noon, the Belfast National Graves Association held a wreath-laying ceremony at Tom’s grave in Milltown Cemetery.

A large crowd of republicans, some of who had travelled from Scotland for the event, paraded from the cemetery gates to the family plot where Tom Williams was finally laid to rest following a prolonged campaign by the NGA and Tom’s comrades to have his remains repatriated.

National Draw Crannchur Náisiúnta

To sell tickets or for more information contact Brian Dowling:

Full rules can be viewed on | Is féidir na rialacha a fheiceáil ag:

www.sinnfein.ie/nationaldraw

Paid in the currency the ticket is purchased Íocfar duaiseanna san airgeadra ina gceannaítear ticéid

Total prize fund of over | Duais-chiste thar:

€/£30,000

Sinn Féin National Finance Committee 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1 E: briandowling@sinnfein.ie M: 00 353 872 6100 P: 00 353 87 230 1882

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Joe Austin, NGA Chairperson, chaired the event which commenced with Annie Cahill, widow of Tom’s comrade Joe, singing the ballad Tom Williams before wreaths were laid.

West Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Fra McCann addressed the crowd, paying tribute to Tom and his comrades.

Roseleen Walsh recited Yeats’s tribute to those who had been executed following the 1916 Rising.

Later that evening, a successful function was held in the Roddy McCorley clubrooms where tributes were again paid to Tom and his comrades and a launch was held for Councillor Jim McVeigh’s book on Belfast IRA leader Joe McKelvey, who was executed by Free State forces in December 1922.

All proceeds from the sales of Jim’s book will go to the Belfast National Graves Association to assist with the care and upkeep of the graves of the Belfast patriot dead.

1st Prize | Céad Duais:

€/£15,000

2nd prize | Dara duais:

Draw will take place on Saturday 28 October 2017 | Crannchur ar an Satharn 28 Deireadh Fómhair 2017

€/£7,500

agus 55 prizes of:

3rd prize | Triú duais:

€/£2,500

€/£100 each

TÁILLE TICKETS | R O

€10 £10

30 October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

www.anphoblacht.com BOOK REVIEWS BY MICHAEL MANNION

In the shadows of heroes Sisters of the Revolutionaries: The Story of Margaret and Mary Brigid Pearse Teresa and Mary Louise O’Donnell Irish Academic Press €14.99

JUST WHEN you thought that every possible variation of analysis of the Easter Rising and its aftermath had been written about, along comes another one. Fortunately, this is rather a good one.

It’s a biography of Pádraig and Willie Pearses’ two sisters, Margaret and Mary Brigid, who lived their entire lives in the shadow of their executed brothers.

This long-overdue examination of their lives is itself written by two sisters, Theresa and Mary Louise O’Donnell, who hopefully have a more harmoni-

Capital conflict

Margaret and Mary Brigid Pearse had widely diverging views on life and society ous relationship than their two subjects.

Perhaps it is their own familial relationship that provides the book with the nuanced and insightful analysis of the dynamics between the two Pearse sisters.

Margaret and were very different characters with widely diverging personalities and views on life and society.

Following the executions of Patrick and Willie, their cause was taken up by their mother, who proved to be a stalwart champion of her sons and the legacy of the 1916 Rising.

She went on extensive fundraising tours in the United States, visited nationalist prisoners and was a frequent speaker on public platforms. She also fought a constant battle to keep St Enda’s school (Patrick Pearse’s progressive school in Rathfarnham, County Dublin) open. In all of these endeavours, she was aided

by her daughter Margaret who, like her mother, had adopted Patrick’s and Willies’s cause as her own.

After Mrs Pearse’s death, Margaret assumed the role of the Pearse matriarch and continued to champion the nationalist cause.

Mary Brigid, on the other hand, had absolutely no interest in nationalism or political activism. This is evidenced by a note she sent to her mother in 1924: “You are cordially invited to a musical soirée at the residence of Mary Brigid Pearse . . . any mention of politics will result in removal by Civic Guard.”

The undoubted love that both sisters felt for their dead brothers was not enough to overcome their attitudes to each other. What started out as a lack of affection seems to have developed into antipathy and outright rancour, with Mary Brigid taking legal action against her sister despite professional advice to the contrary.

This informative and interesting book shines a light on two lives that were determined by the events of 1916, one embracing the legacy and one resisting its influence until her death.

The Dublin Lockout 1913: New Perspectives on Class War & Its Legacy

Conor McNamara & Pádraig Yeates (Editors) Irish Academic Press €24.99 & €44.99

5 Mary Brigid and Willie Pearse

5 Margaret Pearse

THIS is a fascinating collection of essays and commentaries on various aspects of the 1913 Lockout by a diverse panel of contributors.

The eclectic nature of the contributions is best illustrated in the “Acknowledgements” section at the beginning of the book where thanks are given to the Diocese of Ferns and SIPTU without whom “the publication would not have been possible”. I am sure more unlikely bedfellows could exist but I just can’t think of any.

The book contains 11 chapters on differing aspects from nine authors, the editors contributing two chapters each.

The list of contributors contain some heavy-hitters (including Brian Hanley, Donal Fallon and Fearghal McGarry) and the standard of contribution from all participants is very high.

The range of topics covered is extensive.

The relative situations in Belfast and Dublin are examined, showing how Belfast thrived on the huge amount of trade diverted from Dublin. One section examines attitudes to the Lockout in the United States, concluding that the

anti-socialist attitudes engendered then in Irish-America persist to this day.

Another section examines the role of the Irish Citizen Army, from its inception as a street-fighting squad to protect striking/lockout protesters in 1913 to a full revolutionary army in 1916 and later to a virtually moribund rump in 1921.

Attitudes to class and the (still-prevailing) view by Establishment figures of the urban poor as moral degenerates responsible for their own impoverished circumstances is considered in several sections.

Two of the more unusual inclusions are on the oral tradition of history, and on the activities of “newsboy” paper sellers who proliferated in Dublin in the early 20th century. The oral history section considers the effects of the 1913 Lockout and illustrates how its legacy continues to influence our perceptions and activities today.

The book also contains one unusual section which will be of considerable interest to budding historians – an introduction to manuscript sources on the Irish Citizen Army. Not much use to the general reader perhaps but invaluable to anyone seeking to undertake further research.

All in all, it’s an interesting volume to broaden most readers’ knowledge and understanding of the 1913 Lockout.

October / Deireadh Fómhair 2017

www.anphoblacht.com

31

Former H-Blocks prisoner Laurence McKeown reviews the new movie on the 1983 ‘Great Escape’ from Long Kesh, ‘Maze’

Capturing an outrageous thought 5 Tom Vaughan-Lawlor stars as Larry Marley in ‘Maze’

5 A clash of wills inside Long Kesh

I FIRST SAW the movie Maze when it was screened earlier this year at the Galway Film Fleádh.

I had previously met up with actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor when he was conducting research for his role in the film, playing Larry Marley, the mastermind behind the mass escape from the H-Blocks, Long Kesh, in September 1983.

I also had the opportunity to visit the set in Cork Prison when the film was being shot and met with writer and director Stephen Burke. I had met Stephen almost 20 years earlier when we screened his film ’81 at the West Belfast Film Festival. That film is set during the time of the Hunger Strike and remains, in my opinion, one of the best films made about that time, depicting events happening on the outside rather than on the inside.

At the screening of Maze in Galway, I was in the company of Larry Marley’s sons, all of whom I’ve met on numerous occasions over the years, so I was anxious on their behalf to see just how the film would portray Larry and the events of the time.

It’s difficult to relax and allow ‘the suspension of reality’ to kick in when you know intimate details about an event being portrayed on screen, was

commitment to pursue their struggle unbowed, unbroken, undefeated.

The film, whilst focused on the aim to escape, sets it within the wider political and historical context of all that has gone on before within the prison, shows the integrity of the prisoners, and portrays them for what they were: ordinary human beings as well as captured IRA Volunteers.

For me, what was most significant about the 1983 escape – apart from its planning and implementation – was the absolutely outrageous thought 5 Tom Vaughan-Lawlor with Órlaith and Caoilfhionn that IRA prisoners could carry out an escape on such a huge level, and less than two years from the McKeown, Laura (Belfast Film Festival) and Laurence

The film, whilst focused on the aim to escape, sets it within the wider political and historical context there at the time (though in another Block, unfortunately!), know the look and feel of the place, the attitudes and thinking of the time, and so forth.

And I know now that that tension between my personal knowledge and what I was watching on screen spoiled my enjoyment of the film on the night. It wasn’t the fault of the film-makers; the fault was all mine.

Having had the chance to watch the film again when it was premiered by the Belfast Film Festival I was able to get so much more out of it.

No longer was I looking at it with an eye anxious to see if it ‘ticked all the boxes’ regarding its ‘republican credentials’ but could enjoy it as a movie.

And it is an excellent movie.

No, it doesn’t reveal all the minutiae involved in the planning and execution of the escape (no film every could) but what Stephen Burke did, by focusing on the character of Larry Marley, was to form a thread between the Blanket Protest and Hunger Strike, the situation the prisoners faced in the aftermath of the Hunger Strike, and their

‘Maze’ shows the integrity of the prisoners, and portrays them for what they were: ordinary human beings as well as captured IRA Volunteers 5 Laurence McKeown on set in the old Cork Prison

5 Laurence on the set with Marty McCann (from the Falls Road and playing the IRA OC) and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor wearing Belfast Film Festival T-shirts 2016

ending of the Hunger Strike. Less than two years from when they had spent their days, for up to five years, in a 10ft by 6ft cell 24/7. That someone could actually imagine taking over one of the H-Blocks in what was regarded as the most secure prison in Europe, then driving to freedom in the prison food lorry was absolutely outrageous.

It was that audacity of thought that was Larry Marley; ‘An Diabhal’, as he was affectionately known to us.

Films of this nature do not attract funding. I know it was a battle for Stephen and especially for his partner and producer of the film, Jane Doolan, to get it financed. Their commitment, resolve and determination to achieve their goal reflects the values and principles of those they have portrayed on screen. And, for that alone, they are to be commended.

LAURENCE McKEOWN is a former IRA prisoner and Hunger Striker, 1976-92. He co-wrote the feature film ‘H3’ along with his comrade and former IRA prisoner Brian Campbell. In 1995, Laurence co-founded the West Belfast Film Festival which in 2001 developed into the Belfast Film Festival. Laurence remains on the board of management and an active member of the festival.

RESPECT THE RIGHT TO A REFERENDUM

CATALONIA anphoblacht Sraith Nua Iml 40 Uimhir 10 September / Deireadh Fรณmhair 2017