Over the past number of days the media has been focused on the
Loughinisland tragedy and how journalists investigating collusion
between British Crown Forces and Loyalist Death Squads were detained and
had their equipment seized.
It has been claimed that Forces of the Crown seized a USB memory stick
containing GCSE coursework belonging to the daughter of one of the
Belfast journalists as part of an investigation into the alleged theft
of documents from the Police Ombudsman’s office.
The seizure of USB drives and other journalistic documents has been
criticised, and rightly so. However, this has now exposed the
hypocritical attitude of a compliant media.
The fact that those who have rightly exposed the theft of children’s
schoolwork only did so when it suits themselves has to be looked at
further.
For the better part of two decades, those who continue the path of
Republicanism have faced similar treatment as those journalists who have
had their homes raided, personal items stolen and been detained in an
interrogation unit. There is glaring and obvious differences though.
Despite the fact that Republicans continue to use any and all means at
our disposal to highlight and expose the mistreatment and fundamental
abuse meted out on ourselves, our family, our homes and our personal
belongings; it’s when we attempt to integrate the media that the
problems begin.
Republicans of all shades, and in particular, Saoradh most recently have
held numerous press conferences, issued press releases and have even
provided video evidence of children and family members of Republicans
having their school work, Christmas presents, hard earned and sought
after belongings stolen as part of made up felon setting investigations
by British Crown Forces and yet these fall on deaf ears. The hypocrisy
stinks.
The question now has to be asked; why has it taking until middle class
journalists are targeted by so the called “dark side of policing” for
them to highlight the wrongdoings and failings of a British controlled
force within Occupied Ireland?
UFA and UFOA Joint Rally Requesting Support for VCF Permanent Authorization Time Change The joint rally to be held by the UFA and UFOA Executive Boards on Sunday, June 9, has been moved up to 10:00 AM sharp. We are asking any and all available members to join us at 180 Greenwich Avenue, across from the 911 Memorial Museum in support of Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act (H.R.1327/S.546). Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Peter King and other officials will be in attendance. We ask that all UFA and UFOA members please turn out in support of the renewal authorization of the VCF. Please contact your Delegate or Trustee for further information.
Northern Ireland’s justice system weathers the storms of controversy in the continuing vacuum from government
by Brian Walker
Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan
Still no word of a decision on the Legacy Bill and no surprise there either. The justice system ploughs on with handling legacy cases against a background of continuing controversy. The Daily Telegraph’s campaign against former soldiers having to face trial continues, with the “disgusted” reaction by appellant 78 year old Dennis Hutchings to the Supreme Court’s decision that he will face trial by a judge alone. The real objection, held by a strong lobby headed by Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt and much of the Conservative and military establishments, is to former soldiers having to face trial at all. The Telegraph’s figures of soldiers potentially liable varies from two hundred to “as many as a thousand.”In the heightened language of its reporting, the paper supports the claim shared by the Newsletter in their “legacy scandal” campaign, of general bias against the security forces. The intro below to a story of three years ago is questionable even though veterans’ eligibility for the prisoners’ early release scheme hasn’t been tested. The scheme is in any case viewed with contempt over the dreaded “equivalence “ factor, putting veterans on an equal footing with terrorists at best, if not in a more exposed position.British troops convicted of historic killings in Northern Ireland face spending the rest of their lives in jail – even though terrorists jailed for murder during the Troubles will serve just two years, The Telegraph can disclose… The decision to plough on with the investigation was met with fury last night especially given the fact that many terrorists involved in murders in the province were granted pardons under the Good Friday Agreement…The Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Legacy Investigation Branch will look at all 238 fatal incidents in which 302 people, many of them terrorists, died. Because the majority of the deaths involved shootings where more than one soldier opened fire, the probe is expected to include up to 1,000 former troops… According to The Sun, the investigation is expected to last for many years and will cost tens of millions of pounds.More than 350 royal pardons have been issued in Northern Ireland over the past 35 years, the Government disclosed three years ago.Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers has revealed that the Royal Prerogative of Mercy (RPM) was exercised in the province on at least 365 occasions between 1979 and 2002. But the true total may well be higher as the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) has been unable to find the records for the 10 year period from 1987 to 1997. The usual reason given if that the pardons were issued in exchange for important information. Mrs Villiers added that the records indicated that there were no cases of pardons being granted after 2002.Lewis Cherry, a specialist military lawyer who has defended hundreds of soldiers in Northern Ireland, said the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 had only ever applied to terrorists, convicted of atrocities during the Troubles. Hundreds of paramilitaries had sentences commuted as a result of the peace deal, pushed through by Tony Blair. Mr Cherry said: “This act has only ever been applied to terrorists. That is what it was designed for.Perhaps so, but the Model Bill Team for the draft Legacy Bill headed by Prof Kieran McEvoy found no legal reasons why the Act should not apply to security forces veterans.The Northern Ireland police federation takes the opposite view from amnesty campaigners in England. They’re against it for army and police veterans forces because in the end, it would let terrorists off the hook.There in a nutshell is the dilemma.The PSNI remain on the defensive over the quashing of the search warrants against the two Loughinisland journalists.Their 2017 documentary No Stone Unturned broke new ground by naming suspects it said were involved in the UVF killings of six Catholic men gathered in a village pub watching the Republic of Ireland play a World Cup football match on TV in 1994.The priority given to the potential threat against an alleged suspect identified in an allegedly leaked or stolen document over investigation the murders themselves still has to be explained and inevitably feeds the suspicions of police cover up and claims of a police state. The reason given in earlier court hearings is that the identification of the suspect Ronnie Hawthorn constituted a threat to his life and the police Ombudsman and his staff who facilitated the journalists with information and on camera appearances were equally at fault.As the Ballymurphy inquest continues to make waves, the Irish News reports that the Justice Department plans to release £55 million over six years to deal with 52 legacy inquests involving 93 deaths. It isn’t clear from the report that the funds denied by Arlene Foster as first minister have now been released by civil servants.
“State-sponsored sectarianism/racism – the twin evils of the world.”—Fr. Sean McManus Being ‘too clever by half’ is occupational hazard for many clever writers Letters to Editor. Irish News. Belfast. Published Monday, June 3, 2019 I always read Patrick Murphy’s column. He is a very clever writer but in some instances, he may be ‘too clever by half’ which could be the occupational hazard of clever writers.
I refer to his column ‘Time to decide if we want religious belief to take precedence over democracy’ (May 25). He begins with “I blame the Bible” and ends with “But would anyone seriously suggest that religious belief, however genuinely held, should take precedence over democracy?” Clever, eh? Well, let’s rephrase that a bit and see what happens: “Can anyone suggest that justice should take precedence over democracy.”
One of my favourite quotes is from the American Protestant scripture scholar Walter Brueggemann: “In Biblical faith, the doing of justice is the primary expectation of God.”
Why, then, is it that in some of the most Christian fundamentalist areas – Alabama/Mississippi, South Africa, Northern Ireland – social justice did not seem to be the norm? Indeed, state-sponsored discrimination was the norm.
And there’s the key term in all of this, that is often not acknowledged regarding racism and sectarianism – “state-sponsored.”
It is much easier for those in power to present the issue as one of individual failure – that individuals lack tolerance, respect and good-neighbourliness.
Individuals, of course, can be anti-black, anti-Catholic, or anti-Semitic, and some will always be, I guess, as in America. That is personal failure, a sin against the virtue of charity/love.
However, there is a world of difference between personal sin and state-sponsored racism and sectarianism – the “structures of sin,” as Pope John Paul II brilliantly terms it in his 1988 Encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis (Solicitude for social concerns). Furthermore, that is also the first Papal Encyclical to dedicate the Catholic Church to a “preferential option for the poor.” Not too shabby for a “conservative” pope.
What does that do to the sectarian slogan, ‘no pope here’? – which, anyway, was always more about insulting local Catholics and keeping them in their place than it was about theology. It never affected the pope but always effectively showed contempt for local Catholics – the very function of sectarianism.
The fundamental (not to be confused with fundamentalist) issue in any country must be justice, which pulls down the structures of sin and abolishes state-sponsored sectarianism/racism – the twin evils of the world. Justice transcends ideology and party politics. It is the acid test of all political systems. It is also the ultimate test of religious faith, because without justice there is no love: “If anyone says, ‘I love God and hates his brother,’ he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20). Let Patrick Murphy blame the Bible for that too.
Addressing a press conference at Shannon Airport today alongside the
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, US President Donald Trump told the Irish media
the crisis over Britain’s withdrawal from the EU is “going to work
out… with your wall, with your border”. He also said claimed to know
most Irish-Americans personally, declaring: “We love the Irish”.
Despite the threat posed by the potential remilitarisation of Britain’s
border through Ireland, the US president insisted that Brexit itself
will be “very, very good” for Ireland. Mr Trump was corrected by
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar after referring to the border as “the wall”.
The two premiers held a joint press conference after Trump landed on Air
Force One at Shannon airport and before later flying out by helicopter
to his golf resort at Doonbeg, County Clare.
Speaking to the media, Mr Varadkar said it was a great honour to welcome
President Trump to Ireland. Mr Trump responded by saying he and Varadkar
have become friends. Mr Trump said Ireland and the US do a lot of
business together and noted it is one of the leading countries in terms
of immigration to the US.
“We have millions of Irish and I think I know most of them because they
are my friends, we love the Irish, so it’s an honour to be here, we will
be discussing various things, probably he’ll ask me about Brexit because
I know some very good people that are very likely to welcome Brexit.
“I think it will all work out very well also for you, with your wall,
your border, I mean we have a border situation in the United States.” Mr
Varadkar responded by saying Ireland wanted to avoid a border or a wall.
Asked about the United Stated as a guarantor of peace in the North of
Ireland, Mr Trump said: “I think what’s going to happen is over the next
period of time is, first we have to wait to see who is going to be Prime
Minister, and I think it’s a very important decision, we’ll see what
happens over in the UK because that’s going to be decision number one,
who is going to be Prime Minister.
“Once that happens, that person will get in and try to make a deal and
maybe if they don’t make a deal, they do it in a different way but I
know one thing, Ireland is going to be in great shape, Ireland is a
special place that’s going to be in very good shape.
“I don’t think the border is going to be a problem at all.”
Mr Trump also told reporters that he is working to find a solution to
the Irish immigration/deportation issue with the US, saying he wants to
do so for Irish people and Irish-Americans.
“We almost made it last time, we’re looking at that, it was one vote, do
you know that, and we’re looking to that, I’m sure that is something we
will discuss… I want to do for the people of Ireland, but for the
people who are in the US and want this vote to happen and happen to be
of Irish descent as well,” he said.
Several hundred people turned out to protest at the entrance to Shannon
Airport. Various groups are protesting against the president’s policies
on climate change and the continuing use of Shannon Airport by the
American military in violation of Irish neutrality.
Sinn Fein Senator Paul Gavan said he was struck by the irony of the fact
that Mr Trump met the Taoiseach at Shannon Airport.
“It is not that long ago that we saw Vice President Pence give a pep
talk to US troops on Irish soil in Shannon Airport, our civilian
airport, except it is not a civilian airport anymore,” he said.
“It is constantly filled with US troops travelling to or from the
various war zones of US occupation and imperialism.”
“Three million US troops and their weapons have been transported through
Shannon Airport to and from US wars since 2001, as well as torture
rendition flights. He said this was an affront to our tradition of
neutrality and of standing up for human rights across the world.
“There are a host of other very valid reasons to oppose President Trump
including his racism, his misogyny, his anti-Palestinian policies and
his appalling denial of climate change.
“However, above all, it is his fuelling of the military war machine that
continues to wreak havoc and destruction throughout the world that
demands that we take a stand today.”
