Posted by Jim on September 16, 2017
Using a long-standing cover name, loyalist paramilitaries in the UVF
have sought to be legalised in a plan which has brought anger and
incredulity to its victims.
Using the name of the Red Hand Commando, a group of loyalist
paramilitary figures announced that they had travelled to London last
Wednesday to petition the authorities there to be de-proscribed
(legalised).
The British government has said it is considering the application, which
may be related to the group’s attempt to secure ‘peace fund’ payments as
a community group.
In a statement, the organisation sai they “hope that this course being
taken by the Red Hand Commando can lay out a road map for the
transformation of loyalist groups in general.”
The RHC is normally considered to be synonymous with the UVF. Over the
course of the conflict, the murders of twelve innocent civilians have
been directly claimed under the name.
Alan Brecknell, who was seven-years-old when his father, Trevor, was
killed in a no-warning gun and bomb attack on Donnelly’s Bar in County
Armagh, said he could not understand the motivation for the move.
Mr Brecknell said while it was “of course good that loyalists say they
are committed to peace and community development, I cannot understand
why they want to use the name Red Hand Commando.
“Why would a community worker want to call themselves a ‘commando’ of
any kind?
“Every time bereaved families hear the term ‘Red Hand Commando’ it
reminds them of the decades of pain and grief they have suffered. Why
not leave it in the past where, they say, it belongs?”, he added.
Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice said: “It is absolutely
scandalous and adds insult to injury of the hundreds of victims of RHC
and UVF.
“The silence from political unionism about this terrorist organisation
stands in stark contrast to their position on republican actors”, he
added.
Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly said any move to legalise the Red Hand Commando
was “ludicrous”.
“How, and more importantly why, would you have a paramilitary
organisation working as a community group? And what does that say to the
victims of this organisation if their status and their activities is to
be somehow legitimised? I am sure victims would find that abhorrent.”
Mr Kelly said the organisation was created as part of the UVF, which, he
said, was still involved in drug dealing and murder. This week, tens of
thousands of pounds in cash raised from drugs sales linked to the
organisation in north Belfast were seized by the PSNI police.
On Monday, the UVF was also blamed for an attack in Larne in which shots
were fired through a bedroom where three children were sleeping. Four
shots were fired at a family home as part of ongoing disorder in the
town. Two masked men armed with shotguns also hijacked a car.
In recent months several properties and vehicles in the Larne area have
been targeted in arson attacks as part of a UVF-related feud. Two cars
were gutted in a blaze at a house at around 3am on Sunday.
Prominent Belfast victims campaigner Raymond McCord implored the British
Direct Ruler James Brokenshire not to lift the ban on the RHC. He said
the loyalist grouping represented “gangsters” who should disband.
“They are not a community organisation, they represent no one except
themselves, they are still involved in crime,” he said.
Posted by Jim on September 13, 2017
Dominic McSherry.Letters to Editor. Irish News. Belfast.Wednesday, September 13, 2017
It is looking increasingly likely that the DUP, at least in the short-term, is focused on indirectly wielding power in Northern Ireland through the Tory Committee established to administer their supply and demand payoff. This conveniently circumvents the need to work with Nationalists/Republicans on an equal footing in Northern Ireland, something John Taylor recently remarked was not necessary while Unionism remained in the majority. In a sense this is old-style Unionism writ large, simply ignoring the wishes of the large minority in Northern Ireland, and in that sense is deeply disturbing. This harks back to the good old days of Ulster Unionism, when Nationalists knew their place, and everything was as it should be. But it wasn’t, and we’ve 30 years of violent political conflict to evidence that perspective.
The central problem historically for Northern nationalists has been about consent. They did not give their consent to be locked into a British state in 1921, with a predetermined Unionist majority that thwarted any possibility of political change, and which treated them, as John Taylor alluded to, as lesser than [equals]. They did not give their consent to be absented from representation in Dáil Éireann, and instead ruled by an Orange political elite, at the acquiescence of London. Effectively, they were being ruled against their wishes. This type of political sterility was fertile ground for a philosophy that sees the use of violence as the only means to resist political oppression. The emergent IRA saw this as the only solution, as did the ANC.
However, for Northern Ireland hope arrived in 1998 in the form of the Good Friday Agreement, that had at its core the principle of power sharing between Unionism and Nationalism, centered on equality and parity of esteem. This was voted on by the people of Ireland and for the first time in history a political architecture was consented to by Nationalism/Republicanism in The North. This consent is now absent again and this is very concerning.
They say that if you do not learn the lessons of history, then you risk repeating them. So, my advice to the British government and political Unionism is to be extremely careful at this juncture in our shared history. The failure to resurrect the political institutions and the return to some form of direct rule, will mean that hundreds of thousands of Nationalist/Republicans in Northern Ireland will be ruled against their wishes again.
In a sense Northern Ireland will simply revert to being a colony without its own political institutions and being ruled from a distance by the dominant power. This needs to be avoided at all costs, lest the stench of the cesspit starts to rise again.
Posted by Jim on
Huh 7thSeptember 13th
LT MICHAEL J. VECSI (LADDER 122) MEMORIAL MASS
On Thursday, September 14th at 0900 hours, a memorial mass will be held honoring the memory of Lieutenant Michael J. Vecsi, L-122, who died on September 14, 2014. The mass will take place at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 4055 Victory Blvd., Staten Island, NY. All off-duty members and their families are invited to attend. Members are requested to attend in dress uniform.
AFRICAN AMERICAN DAY PARADE
On Sunday, September 17th , permission is granted for off-duty members to participate in the 2017 African American Day Parade. Participating members of the Department should assemble on W. 112th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. and St. Nicholas Avenue, NY at 1200 hours. Dress uniform, including white gloves shall be worn. For further information call the FDNY Vulcan Society at 917-570-9017 or FDNY Office of Community Affairs at 718-999-8112.
FF JOHN P. HANNON 20TH ANNUAL MEMORIAL GAELIC FOOTBALL GAMES
Sunday, October 1st at 1pm. Paddy’s Field, Woodlawn, Bronx. For more info call Pete Hannon, Engine 95, 917-640-1032.
LT CRUZ ANTONIO FERNANDEZ (LADDER 111) PLAQUE DEDICATION
On Monday, October 2nd at 1130 hours, a plaque dedication will be held honoring the memory of
Lieutenant Cruz Antonio Fernandez, L-111, who died on July 14, 2006. The dedication will take place in the quarters of E-214 and L-111, 495 Hancock St., Brooklyn, NY. All off-duty members and their families are invited to attend. Members are requested to attend in dress uniform.
FF JAMES M. DUNN (LADDER 114) PLAQUE DEDICATION
On Friday, October 6th at 1130 hours, a plaque dedication will be held honoring the memory of
Firefighter James M. Dunn, L-114, who died on September 6, 2016. The dedication will take place in the quarters of E-201/ L-114 and B-40, 5113 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. All off-duty members and their families are invited to attend. Members are requested to attend in dress uniform.
FDNY FIRE MUSEUM FUNDRAISING COOK-OFF
The NYC Fire Museum will once again be hosting the annual FDNY Cook-off Fundraiser. Members wishing to enter the contest with a signature dish that will be judged by three celebrity chefs should contact Noemi Bourdier at the NYC Fire Museum at nbourdier@nycfiremuseum.org (212) 691-1303 x11. The event is open to all Fire/EMS members and will be held on the evening of Thursday, November 2nd in the Museum at 278 Spring Street, Manhattan.
Posted by Jim on September 11, 2017
Allison Morris. Irish News. Belfast. September 11, 2017
The grand secretary of the Orange Order says loyalists considered building bonfires on ever street corner in response to the legal challenge to pyres on council land in July.
However, the Rev Mervyn Gibson says the decision not to proceed with the protest “reflected well” on his community.
Rev Gibson praised elements within loyalism who helped calm tensions around the July period following a Belfast City Council injunction against four bonfires in Belfast.
At first there were concerns that the injunctions, aimed at controlling bonfires being built on council land, would spark violence among hard line loyalists in the area.
However, the senior Orangeman said the way the situation was handled “reflected well” on the community.
“At one point there was talk of a bonfire on every street corner, that was considered, thankfully they didn’t do that but you can see how it could have ended up,” he said.
“It’s how the court order is interpreted next year that worries me, in that people will now be looking to bring this in across other parts of the province, if that happens they’ll not stop bonfires people will just move it off council property.
“We suggested a few years ago, and I think they’re looking at it now in a couple of places, about a green area making it a bonfire site that could be used at Christmas and other times of the year to hold community events.
“If it’s a site for community use and there were three or for other uses during the year I think that would work.
“I would never disown bonfires, I loved them when I was growing up and they meant as much to me personally then as they do to those young lads now.
“So, it could have easily turned nasty and it didn’t, that was a good thing and reflected well on that community”, Rev Gibson added.
Posted by Jim on September 9, 2017
By Gerry Adams (for Leargas)
In the cut and thrust of negotiations there is always the risk that
someone will say something that makes the process of achieving agreement
more difficult. Sometimes they do that deliberately. Sometimes they are
just stupid. Or tongue in cheek. During the negotiations leading to the
Good Friday Agreement in 1998 the Ulster Unionist politician John Taylor
famously dismissed proposals from Senator George Mitchel saying he
wouldn’t touch them with a ’40 foot barge pole’. Taylor was renowned for
such hyperbole.
Last week he was at it again claiming that nationalists in the North
‘are not equal’ to unionists. He wasn’t alone in making outrageous and
stupid comments. The morning after the DUP leader Arlene Foster made,
what some in the media described as a ‘new offer’ and a ‘compromise
proposal’ to Sinn Fein, her Westminster colleague Sammy Wilson was in
fine ‘Taylor mode’. He said: “They (Sinn Fein) are not a serious party…
we now have the spectacle of a party with seven MPs who don’t go to
their work and 27 MLAs who won’t go to their work – why on earth would
anyone vote for such a bunch of malingerers.”
That’s Sammy doing what he does best. Messing. His problem of course is
that more and more people in the North are voting for Sinn Fein, as
evident in the Assembly and Westminster elections earlier this year.
More crucially, Arlene Foster’s ‘new offer’ – her ‘compromise’ proposal
was nothing of the sort. It came during a period when Michelle O Neill
was exploring the potential of the next phase of talks with other
leaders, including Arlene and the two governments. The same proposal,
that Ministers be put back in place while negotiations continue in
parallel, was suggested by DUP negotiator Edwin Poots in June and raised
some weeks ago by his party colleague Simon Hamilton. It was rejected
then and Arlene Foster knew it would be rejected last week. It wasn’t a
serious effort to resolve the crisis.
And when you think about it why would Sinn Fein agree to go back into
power sharing with the DUP with no agreement in place? On the vague
possibility of possible legislation that may or may be agreed by a DUP
party which thus far has shown no real desire to agree. And if it
doesn’t work we pull the whole edifice down again. That’s not a recipe
for progress, but for disaster.
In addition, as it has tried to put the blame on Sinn Fein for the
current crisis the DUP, and elements of the media, have claimed that
Sinn Fein doesn’t really want to be in the power sharing institutions.
They accuse us of not wanting to have to manage the mess that Brexit is
already creating for the economy of the North, and in particular for our
rural and farming families, and for those living on both sides of the
border corridor. They also say that being in government in the North
undermines our political project in the South.
This is patent nonsense. From the time of the Good Friday Agreement Sinn
Fein’s political strategy has been built on the need for an Executive
and Assembly and all-Ireland institutions. For almost 20 years we have
worked to ensure that these are viable and effective. For ten years –
first with Ian Paisley, then with Peter Robinson and latterly with
Arlene Foster, Martin McGuinness stretched himself and our party to keep
the institutions in place through the most difficult of circumstances.
Martin’s decision in January was reluctantly taken.
It is also a fact that Sinn Fein’s electoral fortunes in the South are
assisted by an Executive and Assembly in place.
In the Oireachtas our political opponents, especially the Fianna Fail
leader Micheal Martin, cynically exploit the absence of the institutions
to attack Sinn Fein. Martin doesn’t care that the status quo continues
to discriminate against nationalists; or that Irish speakers are being
treated as second class citizens; or that commitments in Agreements,
which a Fianna Fail government of which he was part, have not been
implemented; or that LGBT citizens in a part of this island do not have
the right to marriage equality. Martin’s only interest in the current
crisis is to exploit it in his electoral battle with Sinn Fein in the
South.
So, let me be very clear. Sinn Fein is fully committed to the power
sharing institutions agreed in the Good Friday Agreement. However, the
institutions can only work if they are based on equality, respect and
integrity.
Last week’s proposal by the DUP Leader Arlene Foster for a parallel
process did contain a welcome acknowledgement that the Irish language
threatens no one. The crocodiles will be delighted to hear that. And she
did include a promise of legislation. This is welcome also. But more
than soft words are required. So, to ensure there is no misunderstanding
let me repeat what I said last week. There will be no return to the
Assembly or Executive without a stand-alone Irish Language Act and the
resolution of the other outstanding issues.