Posted by Jim on June 10, 2019
DO NOT MISS THIS FILM ABOUT THE 1971 BALLYMURPHY MASSACRE
Monday, June 10, 2019 – 6:00 PM. Landmark’s E Street Cinema, 555 11th Street NW. Washington, DC 20004
CAPITOL HILL. Tuesday, June 4, 2019— Irish-Americans—and all Americans of goodwill in the greater Washington area—should not miss this hugely important film The Ballymurphy Precedent: about the Ballymurphy Massacre, when the British Army slaughtered 10 innocent civilians, including a mother of eight and the local Catholic priest, over a 3-day period in Belfast in August 1971… It was a brutal, calculated act of State-terrorism, sadly setting the course for the next 30 years.Please see this link sent to me by the film’s esteemed Director,Callum Macrae http://pulitzercenter.org/event/ballymurphy-precedent-us-premierePlease rally to the cause of justice, show solidarity, and come to this film, described by Total Film as:“An astonishing documentary ….urgent, angry and moral, this is top tier film-making.” The Guardian calls it “Impressive..shocking….a desperately sad film”. Director Macrae looks forward to seeing us all at his film.Fr. Sean McManus
Posted by Jim on June 8, 2019
Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has called for greater planning and
an accommodation with unionists ahead of a referendum on Irish unity
which he says he is confident will take place.
Mr Adams said he believes a border poll will be held in the future, and
called on the Dublin government to open up a consultation on
unification.
“The debate about the future, about a new Ireland and the demand for a
referendum on unity is growing,” he said.
“Demographic and political changes in northern society are also playing
an important role in encouraging this debate”.
Mr Adams pointed to recent elections in which the overall share of the
vote for the main unionist parties fell significantly, falling by
a fifth in the European elections. While the overall nationalist vote
also fell slightly, it is still believed that nationalists will form
the dominant community in future years.
The elections also showed increased support for Alliance, a ‘non-sectarian’ unionist
party who ‘want Northern Ireland to work’, despite the sectarian nature
of the statelet. The results show that Alliance has
strengthened its claim to hold the balance of power within the Six
County area.
Mr Adams said a plan now needs to be made to win the support of
unionists for reunification in a Six County vote.
“This needs [to be] planned now. Not after the referendum. That is the
one big lesson of Brexit. A referendum without a plan is stupid. So a
referendum on unity must be set in a thoughtful inclusive process which
sets out a programme of sustainable options, including phases of
transition,” he wrote.
“What accommodations are needed to persuade political unionism that a
united Ireland can work for it?”
He said the key to this to this is the need for “an agreed shared Ireland”.
“What
happens to the political institutions established by the Good Friday
agreement?” he asked.
“Winning support for a united Ireland is not just about persuading
unionists although that is crucial. Everyone needs to be convinced of
the advantages of unity – personal, economic, wages, health provision,
environmental, cultural, peace, prosperity.”
He said there was a “constitutional imperative” to achieve a united
Ireland. “There will be a referendum on Irish unity. I am confident of
this. Winning that referendum is the biggest single challenge facing
united Irelanders.”
Sinn Féin has come in for criticism over the past year for some
vacillation and hand-wringing on a referendum, unlike the more
forthright and determined approach to independence in Scotland. Party
leader Mary Lou McDonald was forced to row back on a statement in August
that a border poll should not take place in the context of Brexit and
only with “maximum consent” from unionists. There was speculation that
Mr Adams’s latest statement was deliberately held back to avoid
impacting on the recent elections.
‘CONVERSATION’
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood took credit for the statement.
“I’m glad to hear that Sinn Féin is moving to the position that I have
been outlining for some time. Their initial reaction to my suggestion
that calling for a border poll with no plan or idea on how it would be
delivered would be madness was entirely negative,” he said.
“Let the conversation that we’re about to have be based on what’s best
for people. Let it be a cross-community conversation on a vision for the
future that reflects where we are and where we want to be. That’s the
challenge that lies ahead.”
Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín said that it is vital that a ‘New Ireland
Forum on Irish Unity’ is established. He called for practical planning
to begin to map out a process of convergence, north and south.
“The Fine Gael government is out of step with the majority view in
Ireland and is doomed to repeat the catastrophic mistakes of the Tories
in London by refusing to plan for the inevitable,” he said.
Meanwhile, talks about restoring power-sharing have continued at
Stormont. Speaking after meeting the two governments and party leaders,
Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald called for a “radical step change” to
resolve outstanding issues before the anti-Catholic marching season gets
fully underway.
“An intensive, focussed and time-limited negotiation must now begin,”
Ms McDonald said. “We have an opportunity but time is short. The next week is
critical.
“People want an Executive and an Assembly that is sustainable,
rights-based and which serves every citizen. That is a test of
leadership. That is a test of political will. That’s what we want to
achieve.”
Posted by Jim on
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?
Posted by Jim on June 7, 2019
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.
Posted by Jim on
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.