FREEDOM for ALL IRELAND BULLETIN

Posted by Jim on December 7, 2018

       The Voice of the Irish in America

   FREEDOM for ALL IRELAND BULLETIN

                       December 2018

A chairde:

FFAI ISSUES UPDATE

A- Ballymurphy Massacre Inquest opens-Forty-seven years after the Ballymurphy Massacre, new Inquests opened in Belfast, as family members of the 11 victims, many holding hands, witnessed  the proceedings. The Inquest was technically limited to the 10  victims shot dead by British troopers between August 9th-11th,1971 in the Ballymurphy section of Belfast. However, as the Coroner’s representative, it also covered the killing of Paddy McCarthy, who died of a heart attack after being subjected to a mock execution.

The Inquest began with statements by relatives of Catholic priest Fr. Hugh Mullan, and nineteen year old Francis Quinn, who were the first to die. Family statements from relatives of Joan Connolly, shot while helping wounded victims, along with Daniel Teggart, shot 14 times, and Noel Philips were linked as part of a second incident. Joseph Murphy was wounded, taken into custody and shot again while in the barracks. Edward Doherty, John Laverty, Joseph Corr and John McKerr were killed over the next two days. British Military Police then claimed the dead were gunmen to justify the murder. The families are fighting to get the truth and exonerate their loved ones.

Already there have been a number of shocking revelations. The  head of a British veterans group, Alan Barry suborned perjury by instructing troopers to ignore subpoenas or pretend complete memory loss in answering questions. British  technical experts reported that victims’ hands had been swabbed for gunshot residue. Nothing was found, meaning none had handled or fired

weapons. However that was ignored by the British. An autopsy confirmed that Joseph Murphy was shot a second time while in the barracks. British troopers boasted to family members and witnesses about “having no time for arrests only killings” as they threw “dead bodies onto a truck like animals”. Families received threatening hate mail mocking the dead. The Inquest continues.

B-Crucial Brexit Vote looms at Westminster December 11th- The European Union agreed terms with British negotiators to avoid a disastrous hard border across Ireland with British withdrawal from the EU set for March 29,2019. That deal is in danger of being vetoed by the British Parliament in a vote scheduled for December 11th. Hard line Brexiteers within Prime Minister Theresa May’s Tory Party, joining with the DUP, and Labour can vote the deal down. They complain about the proposed backstop or safety net that would only come into play if a full trade agreement is not otherwise reached. No agreement would make the six counties Europe’s border with Britain, with customs, tariff and immigration checks.  The EU and Ireland offered to permit the north to remain in the customs union, with customs, immigration controls etc beginning in the Irish sea, meaning at entry points into England, Scotland or Wales. This would benefit the north. However the DUP bitterly condemned even this deal, denouncing preferences for the north as a slippery slope towards a united Ireland. The November 14th deal would require goods coming into the north to meet EU standards and keep Britain in the Customs Union until there was a new agreement. These terms have been called a betrayal by both hard-line Brexiteers and the DUP. Theresa May is now besieged by Tory hardliners, led by Boris Johnson, calling for a hard Brexit and the DUP’s “blood red lines” against preferential terms for the north. The vote on December 11th threatens this new deal and also threatens May’s position as Prime Minister.

C–AOH Tour boosts Ballymurphy Massacre Campaign Families–

An Irish Embassy reception, Congressional meetings, and major public events in Albany, Cleveland, Philadelphia, the Bronx, New Jersey, Manhattan and Long Island heard Carmel Quinn’s call to “stand with us” in the fight for Ballymurphy justice.

  Ms Quinn was hosted by the Irish Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Michael Lonergan. She met Senator Schumer who issued a public statement, and key Congressional leaders Congressmen Eliot Engel, Joe Crowley, Richard Neal, Mike Doyle, and aides for Congressmen Chris Smith, Brendan Boyle, Peter King, and Conor Lamb. Pennsylvania State Legislators Michael Driscoll, and Kevin Boyle, joined Ms. Quinn on the stage in Philadelphia  to present a House of Representatives Citation, to the Ballymurphy Campaign for “their unrelenting pursuit of justice… for all those killed in the Ballymurphy Massacre.” City Councilman Bobby Henon presented a Philadelphia City Council Resolution honoring Ms. Quinn and the Ballymurphy Campaign.

Ms. Quinn spoke in New Jersey, Cleveland, Long Island, Albany at the prestigious Fr. Murphy Awards event, was honored by Bronx County AOH along with Congressman Crowley and IRISH ECHO Editor Ray O’Hanlon, and concluded the week in midtown Manhattan hosted by New York State Board AOH with a presentation by State President Vic Vogel. AOH members from across Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan traveled long distances to attend the Cleveland event. Proclamations were presented from Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kapture ,Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson  and City Council President Kevin Kelley. This event was videotaped at the request of AOH Boards around the country, who can now hear and see Ballymurphy’s appeal via Facebook or the National AOH Website. AOH support  was highlighted in the main Belfast paper, the IRISH NEWS as well as the Irish-American papers.

D-Tony Taylor released after 994 days Internment by License-

 Derry political activist Tony Taylor was released from Maghaberry Prison after spending almost 3 years imprisoned under draconian procedures likened to Internment by License. Mr. Taylor had served a sentence on Republican charges and was released. Then while shopping with his family he was arrested and told he had violated his license or parole, but that neither he nor his attorney would be informed of how. He later got a legal hearing where he, his own political and legal counsel were put out of the room so they could not hear  much less put up a defense to the accusations. He was released under severe censorship restrictions and cannot speak about his unjust imprisonment. Internment by License is being used to intimidate other prominent Republicans who were released early for political offenses.

                CHRISTMAS APPEAL

You have received the AOH Christmas Appeal mailing. Britain’s actions, imposing Brexit, denying an Irish Language Act, calling  legacy justice investigations like Ballymurphy  witch-hunts, all show they want to shut the door on Irish freedom forever. We can  donate to groups supporting Freedom for all Ireland but only if you members who I know care so much, make donations happen. Please ask your State Board, County Board or Division to respond to the FFAI mailing at your meeting and give to the Christmas Appeal for Freedom for all Ireland. AOH donations to carefully chosen charities through monies raised by the FFAI Annual Christmas Appeal, alongside our political and educational campaigns, are the cornerstone of our FFAI initiative. Our National Officers have asked for a commitment from everyone to participate and support FFAI with a donation or fundraising event. Help make Freedom for all Ireland, not an aspiration or endeavor but the reality for those Irish people still denied it! America can make a difference, but only if the AOH and LAOH, as the  voice of the Irish in America, lead the way.

           CONGRESSIONAL CALL TO ACTION

Last April sixteen Members of Congress joined a  breakthrough bipartisan letter sponsored by the AOH to the British Ambassador about legacy truth. Both the British Ambassador and colonial British Secretary Karen Bradley had to reply. Attached is a draft letter Congressional letter to the British Ambassador about the Ballymurphy Inquest. Congressman Engel who met Carmel Quinn twice, became the first to send a letter to the British Ambassador that America is watching the Ballymurphy Inquest. FFAI is calling upon AOH members across the country to contact your local Senators and Congressmen, and ask them to send a letter to the British Ambassador. Send me a copy of any letters that go out so that we can publicize here in the US and in Ireland.

               IRELAND’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

During our National Convention, a resolution was passed to commemorate the centenary of Ireland’s Declaration of Independence. On January 21,1919, representatives elected in the 32 county election of 1918, assembled as a National Parliament, and voted Ireland’s Declaration of Independence. Like the signers of America’s Declaration of Independence, Irish patriots risked imprisonment or death at the hands of the colonial British government. We want to promote this proud event with state, city and local proclamations of Ireland’s Independence

Day.

                  FFAI TOUR

We are now planning on a weeklong AOH FFAI Tour visiting Belfast, Derry and Tyrone beginning around February 10th.Please check the AOH web page and watch for furtherdetails.

                FFAI MONTHLY BULLETIN

Please check for the monthly FFAI Bulletin on the New York State and National AOH web sites. We want to give you monthly updates on key events in the north with short analysis and explanation.

       NOLLAIG SHONA DAOIBH!

        Merry Christmas   

Please contact me at MGALVINESQ@AOL.COM.

Slan

Martin Galvin

‘Battle With Capitalism’ — In France As In Ireland — Lies In Renewing The Republic

Posted by Jim on December 5, 2018

The ‘Gilets Jaunes’ protests ongoing in Paris are symptomatic of working class discontent — not only in France and with the Élysée Palace but with governments and states across the West.

But for the emerging movement in France to succeed it must establish a political direction. The manifesto commitment of Jen-Luc Melenchon — to mount a constituent assembly upon a ‘Fifth French Republic’ — is the direction it hopefully travels.

This, too, is where we should aim towards in Ireland.

The core objective for a movement as this, here, must be to restore the sovereignty and unity of the Irish Republic. For ourselves, the battle with capitalism unfolding on the Champs Élysées lies there — in establishing anew that Republic.

The French, too, should do likewise, by bringing forward the assembly proposed by Melenchon at the last election — giving, thus, power to the people to determine their affairs and their destiny.

We are dealing, in the now, with a rigged system — one designed by the already powerful to preserve their position over that of working people. We need, then, to design a new system and that is what a constituent assembly can give onto.

In the times of flux before us, born of Brexit and new demographic realities, we must ensure that when we arrive at a nationalist majority — triggering thus political change — that we move not to a revision of the standing order but instead to a new beginning.

Asserting Irish sovereignty and independence will be key in that event; building a movement capable of doing so the necessary precursor and the task now to hand — a popular extra-constitutional movement that upholds the Republican object.

People in France, likewise, must have a clear programme and a clear idea as to what and where they intend, if their discontent is not to be hijacked in the event it succeeds toward change.

Through such endeavour, we can arrive together at our shared objective — the free association of free nations envisaged by the great James Connolly. Whether in France or in Ireland, his timeless vision is now where our efforts must set toward.

Official Communication from the UFA

Posted by Jim on

Wearing of the Green

Posted by Jim on December 3, 2018

Oh! Paddy, dear, and did you hear
The news that’s goin’ round,
The shamrock is by law forbid
To grow on Irish ground.
Saint Patrick’s Day no more we’ll keep
His colours can’t be seen
For they’re hanging men and women
For the wearing of the green.

I met with Napper Tandy
And he took me by the hand
He said “How’s dear old Ireland?
And how does she stand?”
She’s the most distressful country
That you have ever seen,
For they’re hanging men and women there
For the wearing of the green.

For the wearing of the green
For the wearing of the green
They’re hanging men and women
For the wearing of the green.

Then since the color we must wear
Is England’s cruel red
Sure Ireland’s sons will n’er forget
The blood that they have shed.
You may take the shamrock from your hat
And cast it on the sod,
But ’twill take root and flourish still
Tho’ underfoot ’tis trod.

My father loved his country
And sleeps within its breast
While I that would have died for her
Must never soul be blessed
Those tears my mother shed for me
How bitter they had been
If I had proved the traitor to
The wearing of the green

For the wearing of the green
For the wearing of the green
They’re hanging men and women
For the wearing of the green.

But if at last our color should
Be torn from Ireland’s heart,
Her sons with shame and sorrow
From the dear old isle will part.
I’ve heard a whisper of a land
That lies beyond the sea,
Where rich and poor stand equal
In the light of freedom’s day.

Oh, Ireland! Must we leave you,
Driven by a tyrant’s hand?
And seek a mother’s blessing
From a strange and distant land?
Where the cruel cross of England
Shall never more be seen
And in that land we’ll live and die
Still wearing Ireland’s green.

For the wearing of the green
For the wearing of the green
They’re hanging men and women
For the wearing of the green.

For the wearing of the green
For the wearing of the green
They’re hanging men and women
For the wearing of the green.

Early shoot-to-kill incidents recalled

Posted by Jim on December 2, 2018