Posted by Jim on September 2, 2017
The oration delivered by Padraig Garvey, of Republican Sinn Fein in
Kerry, at the annual hunger strike commeration organised by the
independent Bundoran / Ballyshannon 1981 H-Block Commemoration
Committee.
Here today we remember all those who died and who took part in the 1981
H-Block hunger strike. Hunger strike is an ancient form of protest in
Ireland. In more recent times it has been used by the suffragettes in
their struggle to gain votes for women as well as by Irish Republicans
in the struggle for political status and the freedom of our country.”It
is the most dramatic form of protest, the last resort; it shows huge
courage and commitment. It destroys the oppressor’s narrative of
criminality and selfish motives on the part of the jailed which the
oppressor used to justify their methods.
We see the elements that drove the 1981 hunger strike. British injustice
in Ireland; Britain’s attempts to portray freedom fighters as criminals
and the resistance of the Irish people to this. The resistance, I feel,
we can learn from.
The first point is the commitment of the prisoners. These were the
people at the sharp edge of the British oppression and without their
determination nothing could have happened.
Next is popular public support. Most Irish people knew in their hearts
that the protest was right. A well-organised, committed movement to
drive the protest on the outside.
Adherence to long-standing Republican principles gave the protest an
inner strength. The basic beliefs that ‘England had no right in Ireland,
never had a right in Ireland and never will have a right in Ireland’.
The belief that through the All-Ireland Republic the Irish people had
the best means of living in peace, fairness and prosperity together. If
we look back at history we see those basic elements of the H-Block
protests were there that brought success to the Republican Movement.
Between the 1916 Rising and the Tan War it was welcome home rallies for
freed prisoners, protests against conscription, the hunger strike of
Thomas Ashe, and the running of abstentionist candidates in by-elections
that built on the support gained from the Rising up to the general
election of 1918 and the establishment of the First Dail Eireann in
January 1919. The establishment of the All-Ireland Republic smashed any
notion of legitimate British rule in Ireland.
It was from this broad support that the IRA were able to wage a
successful campaign. It took threats, treachery, betrayal and the
dropping of principle by some to over throw what had been achieved.
Again, in the late 1940s and early 1950s it was the commitment that
drove the revival of the Movement from a very low ebb. They raided for
arms and ran in council elections and as abstentionist candidates in
Leinster House and Westminster elections. This built a nationwide
support base for later campaigns. Although the Border Campaign was not
successful it did create the core which led to the Provisional campaign
from 1969 on. It was with that ousting of that leadership that
abstentionism was dropped in 1986 and the road to Stormont taken.
The need to build popular support based on Republican principles is as
important today as ever. Often the talk of popular support ism used with
talk of dropping principles or joining with other groups. The principles
we hold underpin the Irish Republic. We cannot see the Irish Republic as
the legitimate government authority in Ireland and also give some
support to other institutions who would claim authority in Ireland.
Abstentionism from Stormont, Leinster House and Westminster is not just
some old hard- line, dead-end principle but is necessary if we are to
call ourselves Republican. Abstentionism must not be used as an excuse
not to engage with public debate. We can run in council elections in the
Free State and take seats and use these, along with pickets, protests to
put Eire Nua, SAOL NUA and the wider Republican position to the people.
Terence MacSwiney was Lord Mayor of Cork and elected to the First Dail
and Bobby Sands and Kieran Doherty were also elected TDs.
When we look back on 1981 we remember those who gave their lives and
those who were prepared to give their lives for a principle. Principles
are powerful things. They keep you on the true path. When discarded you
are directionless. By holding true to our principles, the principles of
the 22 martyr hunger strikers; by openly and proudly promoting them, a
free, united and socialist Ireland is guaranteed.
Posted by Jim on
Two women who lost loved ones in the conflict have occupied the Museum
of Free Derry in the city’s Bogside, refusing to get out at closing time
and sleeping overnight on the floor after a row over a notorious
exhibition which equates Bloody Sunday victims with their killers.
Helen Deery, whose 15-year-old brother Manus was shot dead by a British
soldier in 1972, and Linda Nash, whose 19-year-old brother William was
killed on Bloody Sunday in the same year, are outraged that their loved
ones names are part of an exhibition which also names dead British
soldiers.
The names of everyone killed in the conflict from 1969 to 1972 – IRA
Volunteers, civilians, British Army and police – flash up on a screen on
one visual exhibition at the Bogside Museum.
This week, the women brought overnight bags, sleeping bags and pyjamas
into the museum, sat in the foyer with ‘victims betrayed’ placards and
refused to leave at closing time. They slept on the concrete floor
overnight and say they will do so every night until the exhibition is
taken down.
“We are occupying the Museum of Free Derry and we are not coming out
until that display is down,” said Ms Deery.
“We have tried every other form of protest to have them take our loved
one’s names down. I have told them on numerous occasions of the hurt and
anxiety that this is causing me and other family members. I am staying
here until they take this down.
“I have my pyjamas and a sleeping bag with me. I slept on the concrete
floor last night.
“I have eight pins in my legs and a spine injury and am very sore this
morning. But I am adamant that I am not leaving.
“I am Manus’ voice now. His next of kin. I want to keep his name sacred.
He was just a child.”
Linda Nash, whose brother William was shot dead on Bloody Sunday, says
the presence of her loved ones name alongside British soldiers who died
is ‘hurtful’.
“This is another thing that keeps me awake at night,” she said. “It is
wrong. I am staying here until I see them physically take the exhibition
down. I want to see them delete my brother’s name from it.
“We are here to hold a peaceful protest. We don’t want any confrontation
at all. We are just sitting down. We have even been giving tourists an
explanation as to what we are doing when they asked.
“We are not going to make a fuss, we’re just going to live here until
they take it down. If we are arrested, we will let the police take us
out, but as soon as we are released we will be going back in. This has
to end now.”
In early June the museum received a petition of over 1,000 names in
protest at the display, with a promise that it would respond.
“We have been repeatedly rebuffed and can withstand the insult to the
memory of our relatives no longer,” the women said.
“We will remain inside the Museum in peaceful protest until the
offending exhibit has been permanently removed.
“The management at the museum have been given since the beginning of
June to respond to our concerns and have repeatedly sought to ignore the
hurt they have caused or to delay a mature response. They have pushed us
to this action and we will now see it through.”
Republican Sinn Fein offered its solidarity to the two women and claimed
Sinn Fein of being behind the exhibition and the museum “by proxy
through its membership”.
They accused Sinn Fein of rewriting history, “whitewashing the
bloodstained pavements and trying to cover the cracks of this abnormal
society.
“Included in this process was their attempt to end the Bloody Sunday
marches despite the fact that there still has not been a single
conviction against any member of the British murder squad who carried
out the execution of innocent civilians on that day.”
“They have seen it appropriate now to include those innocent people
killed on Bloody Sunday along with other victims of British murder
squads such as Manus Deery, in an electronic memorial with the same
people who murdered them, also there are IRA volunteers included on this
memorial.”
Posted by Jim on
A former RUC police officer this week said he believed the British
government was aware of the activities of the Glenanne Gang’s death
squads at the very highest level.
The gang, made up of members of the RUC, UDR and UVF, operated across
the Mid-Ulster area in the mid 1970s. It is believed to have carried out
around 120 murders, the majority of which were innocent Catholics.
It included Robin ‘The Jackal’ Jackson, a notorious unionist
paramilitary commander and RUC (now PSNI) Special Branch agent linked to
scores of murders.
John Weir, who held the rank of sergeant and became involved in the
activities of the notorious gang, said that senior officials in Downing
Street would have been aware of their operations.
His comments came just weeks after a High Court judge ruled that the
PSNI had unlawfully frustrated any chance of an effective investigation
into the gang.
“They were feeding information direct to government,” he said.
“Obviously some of it was going through their senior officers but not
all. Some of those men, they themselves were connected to parliament.
“And I know that and I also know that they know that even the very
bottom of army intelligence, which I don’t think in a way were that
capable a lot of them, but they knew all about Glenanne.”
“Glenanne was watched, every movement from there was watched and that’s
when I was in that area, I know that, every car that went in and out of
the place, they had the number of the cars.
“So what I’d say – why didn’t anybody make any effort to stop it?
Everything stops at the people who were operating rather than see where
it was really coming from and why it was allowed to go on. “If they knew
this was going on why did they allow it to continue?”
He said the truth behind many events that took place during the conflict
are already known, but that the authorities will resist the truth
emerging.
“Everybody knows who did what and who’s behind what,” he said. “But at
this present time it all stops with….. a few rotten apples at the bottom
of the barrel. But it goes much, much higher than that. If people have
nothing to hide, let them bring the truth out.”
“And when I’m talking about governments, I mean the Irish government as
well as the British government.”
Sinn Fein representative Linda Dillon said in light of the comments
there needed to be a thorough investigation into collusion between the
British state and the Glenanne Gang.
“There is a greater onus than ever on the PSNI to come back to the
courts and set out how it intends to address the families’ concerns,”
she said.
DISCLOSURE ORDERED
Meanwhile, the British Army and PSNI police have been ordered to
disclose intelligence files in a major legal action over collusion
behind the Miami Showband Massacre, which has been linked to the
Glenanne Gang.
Three members of the popular band were taken from their tour bus and
shot dead on a country road after a gig in Banbridge, County Down in
July 1975. Band members were made to line up at the side of the road
while attempts were made to hide a bomb on the bus.
The device exploded prematurely, killing some of the murder gang. The
remainder then opened fire on the band members, murdering three of them.
Two others were also injured, but survived the atrocity.
A lawyer representing survivors and relatives of murdered group members
confirmed that the High Court has directed more than 80 categories of
documents are to be made available on the attack.
They are understood to include material held on ‘The Jackal’. The UVF
boss Jackson, a one-time UDR member who operated with the Glenanne Gang,
was linked to one of the murder weapons by fingerprints. Before he died
in 1998, Jackson admitted he had been tipped off by a senior RUC man to
lie low after the killings.
Despite facing the order to hand over the files, the British authorities
may still try to retain some files by securing a ‘Public Interest
Immunity’ order for secrecy in the name of “national security”.
Following the development, lawyer Michael Flanigan said: “This is a case
in which collusion is self-evident.
“The documents which the court has ordered disclosure of will go some
way to explaining how that collusion came into effect, resulting in the
loss of the lives of these innocent, talented young men.”
Posted by Jim on September 1, 2017
August 31st
FRED’S TEAM, NYC MARATHON
Members of the FDNY BFI will be running the NYC Marathon to support cancer research at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NYC’s premier cancer research and treatment facility. They are part of Fred’s Team and the money they raise goes directly to MSK. Please be generous in supporting cancer research. Suggested donation is $10/pp. Please click on the link to donate and share the link via social media.
http://mskcc.convio.net/site/TR/RunsWalks/FredsTeam?team_id=59045&pg=team&fr_id=2921&_ga=2.155459643.1829518167.1504099856-57033811.1485437743
IAFF TO ESTABLISH HURRICANE HARVEY DISASTER RELIEF
The IAFF response team arrived in Texas at the Houston Local 341 union hall, where the IAFF has established disaster relief operations. General President Schaitberger is on his way to meet with affected members and assess the situation. Thousands of IAFF members’ homes are in some of the worst hit areas, and already dozens have reported severe damage by the rising waters – with many more to come. Yet members continue to work around the clock, rescuing thousands, while at the same time knowing that their own homes are likely under water.
The best way to help your brothers and sisters is with a donation to the IAFF Disaster Relief Fund, which provides assistance to IAFF members affected by major disasters.
Donate today with a tax deductible contribution online or make a $10 donation by texting DISASTER to 50555*
www.iaff.org/disasterrelief
PLEASE DO NOT SELF DISPATCH TO THE DISASTER ZONE. For additional updates, visit the IAFF website.
NEW ROCHELLE AFFORDING HOUSING LOTTERY APPLICATIONS
Applications are now being accepted for affordable housing units at Heritage Homes Phase III, Winthrop and Brook Streets, New Rochelle, NY 10801. Applications may be obtained in person at 542 Main Street 3rd Floor, New Rochelle, NY 10801 or at www.cornellpace.com. To request by mail :send a self-addressed legal-sized envelope with your application request to ‘Cornell Pace’ at the above mentioned address.
NYC LABOR DAY PARADE 2017
The UFA will be marching and showing solidarity with the rest of NYC’s Central Labor Council on Saturday, September 9th 2017 at 10am. We are NYC and workers here set the standard that other cities follow. We come from all backgrounds and all walks of life, and we all play an important role in helping to keep NYC a world class, union-made city. Parade steps off from 44th Street & Fifth Avenue. For more information:(212)-604-9552 or visit www.nycclc.org .
Posted by Jim on
To date, 127 names are listed on the World Trade Center Memorial Wall at FDNY Headquarters. On Thursday, September 7th at 4pm, a ceremony will be held at FDNY Headquarters where 32 names of new fallen heroes will be added to the wall.
Firefighter Gary E. Celentani E-233 November 25, 2002
Lieutenant Cruz A. Fernandez L-111 July 14, 2006
Firefighter Robert J. Ventriglia E-207 November 2, 2010
Firefighter James M. Hicks E-7 July 25, 2015
Firefighter Thomas A. Lynn E-5 October 23, 2015
EMT Norman Valle Sta. 20 January 6, 2016
Firefighter Thomas Farrell L-41 March 25, 2016
Firefighter Robert W. Johnson E-81 April 10, 2016
Fire Marshal Gregorio Morales BFI July 30, 2016
Firefighter William E. Woodlon E-21 August 20, 2016
Lieutenant Ronald D. Biller E-151 September 18, 2016
Captain Vincent R. Ungaro E-235 October 1, 2016
Firefighter Paul F. Santoro E-259 October 15, 2016
Firefighter John A. Dunn E-230 November 7, 2016
Firefighter Harry L. Davis Sq-18 November 11, 2016
Lieutenant Raymond W. Alexander E-70 November 21, 2016
Firefighter Joseph P. O’Toole L-41 December 12, 2016
Firefighter Kevin A. Rooney E-42 January 22, 2017
Firefighter Brian J. Masterson M-9 January 22, 2017
Firefighter Robert F. DiGiovanni L-144 January 27, 2017
EMS Lieutenant Edith Elida Torres EMS Communic February 8, 2017
Firefighter Robert E. Newman B-4 February 9, 2017
EMT Rose M. Scott EMS Communic February 15, 2017
Lieutenant Steven Sorger E-6 March 11, 2017
EMS Lieutenant Mario Bastidas Sta. 58 April 1, 2017
Firefighter Roy E. Smith E-156 April 2, 2017
Firefighter James J. Lanza L-43 April 6, 2017
Paramedic Mark A. Harris Sta. 23 May 13, 2017
Firefighter Raymond J. Pfeifer E-40 May 28, 2017
Lieutenant William J. Kelly L-116 June 10, 2017
Firefighter William J. Gormley L-174 June 14, 2017
Marine Engineer Robert W. Alexander M-1 August 14, 2017
Fraternally,
Gerard Fitzgerald, President
Robert Eustace, Recording Secretary