Posted by Jim on January 16, 2015
Sean Bresnahan looks at the OTR issue.
a Tyrone republican who frequently contributes to online discourse.
Much ado the past few days about Blair, ‘On The Runs’ and the peace process, but let’s keep in mind that without the Troubles there would have been no OTRs to begin with. And also that some should have profited from this scheme but instead were thrown to the wolves by their own, likely deemed unworthy of inclusion by an arbitrary decision-making process that excluded potential adversaries at the behest of the Sinn Fein leadership.
Many in the Unionist community take issue that a ‘deal’ on OTRs was reached at all, when the truth is the scheme did not go anywhere near far enough. My issue with OTRs is not that it let anyone off the hook but that it didn’t go far enough and (like everything else the leadership negotiated) we got the short end of the stick.
Like everything else it was done on Britain’s terms with a carrot thrown in to keep us happy – or more accurately to keep THEM happy and to secure their position, with no threat of two years in gaol for some. The greatest leadership in history my arse. Spin that yarn to Gerry McGeough, who spent two years in Maghaberry thanks to their ineptitude. Or was it ineptitude? Perhaps something more was afoot.
The dogs in the street know McGeough was shafted to put him out of the picture politically, while Michelle Gildernew, the Adamsite darling, could only be the better-positioned for it. God forbid an independent-minded voice within the republican movement. A calculated political move which raises its own set of questions regarding the relationship of the leadership to the state and a disgrace from start to finish – from the original selection convention in June 2000 to the carting away in the back of a police car at the count in Omagh nearly seven years later. I’d venture the two are connected at some point, if only in terms of the agenda being served.
That aside, the reasoning in McGeough being gaoled is it sets his actions as an IRA Volunteer inside the paradigm of an acceptable British law. In this narrative McGeough is breaking the law and being suitably punished whereas state agents, like his direct opponent, are elevated to a higher moral plateau – as are the mechanisms used to ensure a conviction. That OTRs pose a threat to this narrative is the source of the recent hullabaloo.
The key aim of the British is to frame the conflict as a criminal undertaking and the arrest, political show-trial and unsafe ‘conviction’ of those like Gerry McGeough is part of its strategy. Many, out of blind loyalty to the leadership and its pathetic negotiating abilities, are sadly content to go along with that, regardless of how it impacts on the legitimacy of men like Pete Ryan, Jim Lynagh, Martin McCaughey and their actions.
This approach would see such men happily subjected to British Diplock Courts today, if they’d somehow managed to escape the death-trap set for them, went on the run and returned home years later thinking it was safe to do so – absent of course that all important letter, which some were deemed worthy of and others not. Would Jim and Pete have been deemed worthy? Would Martin? Who knows but who would trust it.
Some would have it they should just be grateful no matter, sure what’s two years away from your family and loved one’s anyway. That’s the pitiful notion those like Sinn Fein Councillor Michael McIvor promote when publicly claiming McGeough done alright and should be thankful for his lot – whether they see it or not.
Constitutional issues aside, the 1998 Agreement was poorly negotiated around such issues as prisoner-releases and conflict-related ‘offences’. It created a situation whereby it was acceptable practice for a British Diplock Court to try and convict this man, and others such as Scotchy Kearney, using all the various legal manipulations and lowering of the standards of ‘law’ long employed against and objected to by republicans.
That some now accept the legitimacy of these legal processes is a victory for Britain and a shafting of the IRA Volunteers who stood up against and called such reactionary ‘laws’ for what they were and are – repression. That ‘letters of comfort’ are set to be withdrawn while the republican leadership continues to sit in Stormont is just the broom-handle being rammed up their backsides all the harder.
Under the British-imposed narrative, in which republicans now acquiesce, the state had a right to prosecute its violence whereas republicans had none – not even to defend themselves and their community. The evidence around Bloody Sunday, collusion in the murder of Pat Finucane and the refusal to grant inquests into a plethora of state killings speaks for itself, the British justice system is designed to protect its own and set them apart from ‘terrorists’ like Gerry McGeough, who are to be gaoled while the state and its agents walk free.
Those who consider the underhand mechanisms employed to stick McGeough and his like behind bars as acceptable fare, and anything other than the product of inept negotiating at best, the deliberate removal of a political foe at worst, are either fooling themselves or are that far removed from the republican struggle they no longer care about the broader picture.
What amounts to the effective collapse of the OTR scheme, at the behest of political Unionism, serves the same end for Britain as the gaoling of McGeough and Kearney, to show republicans their place within the British law, which can be altered and employed against them at will, if and when required. The only difference on this occasion is that ordinary Volunteers were not alone in being shafted, this time the leadership was shown its place in the order of things too.
Posted by Jim on January 15, 2015
January 15, 2015
Letters Editor
WALL STREET JOURNAL
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10036
Dear Editor:
In “The Scandal of Free Speech” (1/13) you note that the practice of killing blasphemers came to an end during the Enlightenment and that free speech survives in America thanks to the First Amendment to our Constitution. Much American blood was spilled to assert that right against British tyranny in 1776. In recent decades British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher inspired those who would silence the voice of others and showed the world her deadly contempt for free speech.
She was so enraged by the speeches of Sinn Fein candidates and elected officials that the British Army Special Air Services teams were unleashed to assassinate 6 elected Sinn Fein Councilors and 9 campaign workers. Those speaking in defense of victims of British injustice infuriated her. Her Minister Hogg in Parliament claimed “some lawyers were too close to the IRA ”and within months Belfast attorney Patrick Finucane was killed with the collusion of MI-5 and loyalist thugs. Inspired by their success murdering Finucane, 10 years later the same sinister security (sic) forces murdered Lurgan lawyer Rosemary Nelson by the weapon of choice, a car bomb. Her crime? She testified before Congress about police corruption and murder. Her testimony, in part, expressed a fear for her life. She, too, was Charlie!!
Allegations of systematic anti-Catholic discrimination or police corruption could not be heard by the British public. Ms. Thatcher instructed the BBC to silence the voices of Sinn Fein representatives whether they were talking about the price of milk or police and judicial malfeasance. Her greatest fear was letting Sinn Fein speakers or ex-prisoners speak in the U. S. For decades Britain literally dictated to the U. S. Departments of State and Justice a policy of arrest and immigrant harassment of potential speakers. The Iron Lady even convinced the Bush administration to deny a visa to Gerry Adams, the elected head of a legal political party, an elected Member of Parliament, an author and a man who has never been convicted of any crime!! He survived one assassination attempt by British agent Brian Nelson. He, too, was Charlie!
Ms. Thatcher knew the lawless, sectarian and violent colonial appendage called Northern Ireland could only tolerate so much truth and free speech. She was willing to do anything to limit it. She was willing to kill someone for their political or legal views that conflicted with the official spin on N. I. So how does she differ from those who butchered the journalists and Jews in Paris?
Sincerely,
Michael J. Cummings
Posted by Jim on January 10, 2015
A group of concerned individuals has established “Reclaim the Vision of
1916–A Citizens’ Initiative for 2016,” in order to reassert the
political principles and objectives that animated the 1916 Rising and to
show their continuing relevance for Ireland today.
In 1916 the Proclamation of the Irish Republic declared the right of the
Irish people to the ownership of Ireland and to the unfettered control
of Irish destinies. They wanted to realise this in a sovereign,
independent Irish democracy that would have the welfare of all the
citizens as its guiding principle. This vision has never been achieved,
and the Irish people have borne the consequences of this failure.
We believe that the 100th anniversary of the Rising presents an
opportunity to open a meaningful dialogue among the citizens about the
principles of 1916 and how they can be applied to the task of building
an Irish democracy in the twenty-first century. In a genuine Republic
the people would have full control over their own lives; the common good
would be at the centre of decision-making; and all the citizens would
reap the benefits of a fully human society.
Reclaim the Vision of 1916 intends to organise three national events: a
National Parade of Celebration on Sunday 24 April 2016, a national
seminar in the spring of 2016, and a significant publication. It is
hoped that many individuals and groups throughout the country will
affiliate to the Initiative and participate in the national events, as
well as organising their own activities. We invite those who are
interested in joining us in this project to contact us now, and we wish
to co-operate with those who share our concerns and are organising their
own events.
The Citizens’ Initiative has set out its ideas and aspirations in a
Proclamation for a New Irish Republic, together with a Political
Statement. Alongside the programme outlined above we want to encourage
wide discussion and debate about the ideas contained in these documents.
The Proclamation for a New Irish Republic states:
We affirm that the only solution to this failure and crisis will be
found in a sovereign, independent Irish democracy that puts the common
good at the heart of government and where sovereignty rests with the
people and democratic power is exercised by them.
We want Ireland to develop a culture that fosters and encourages
independence of thinking and action. We recognise that there may be
differences between us about how our vision can be implemented, but we
insist that everyone who believes in the democratic right of the people
to govern themselves should support our shared struggle for a better
society for all.
In such a democracy, the common good would come before the freedom of
capital and the markets or the pursuit of private profit. The wealth of
the country belongs to the people, and the natural resources, industries
and services must be utilised in the interests of all the people and
subjected to their democratic control.
At the end of this initiative we hope there will be a deeper
understanding of the need for a real Irish democracy and what that would
mean, and that as many people as possible will have been drawn into the
circle of discussion, thinking, and participation.
Reclaim the Vision of 1916–A Citizens’ Initiative for 2016 will be
officially launched at a public rally in Dublin at Easter 2015. We will
be contacting the widest range of individuals and groups to discuss
these ideas and to see how we can work together to ensure that the
centenary of the 1916 Rising is properly celebrated.
Signed: Robert Ballagh, Finbar Cullen, Eugene McCartan
Posted by Jim on
A murder investigation into the Bloody Sunday massacre will restart
ahead of the 43rd anniversary of the killings in Derry, it has been
announced.
Lawyers for the victims have been told the investigation into the events
of January 30 1972, in which British soldiers killed 14 civil rights
protestors and injured another 22, is to be resumed.
The original inquiry was stopped last year just three days before
investigators were due to start interviewing the soldiers responsible
for the killings.
Lawyer Peter Madden, who represents the majority of Bloody Sunday
families, said the PSNI told him that a number of its members have now
been assigned to the case.
“We lodged judicial review proceedings on behalf of the Bloody Sunday
families and wounded challenging the decision of the Police Service of
Northern Ireland to effectively end its murder investigation into the
events of Bloody Sunday,” Mr Madden said.
“Since that time, and in advance of a court hearing, we have engaged in
extensive and detailed correspondence with the PSNI, challenging the
legality of its decision and decision making process and as a direct
consequence of issuing proceedings the PSNI has now decided to
recommence the investigation.”
Mr Madden said his firm “cautiously” welcomed the new development.
It is understood the new investigation team will again consider
interviewing former members of the notorious Parachute regiment who
carried out the killings in Derry on Bloody Sunday.
John Kelly, whose brother, Michael was one of those killed, said the
re-opening of the investigation was a step in the right direction.
“It’s a second bite at the cherry but hopefully this time we’ll get to
eat the full cherry,” he said.
The original Widgery report on the Bloody Sunday massacre was
discredited as a whitewash and a cover-up. However, the 2010 Saville
Report concluded that British soldiers from the Parachute Regiment had
opened fire on victims who had been entirely innocent, and British Prime
Minister David Cameron said in Westminster: “I am deeply sorry”.
As a lengthy justice campaign by the families entered its fifth decade,
a police investigation was finally promised. However, in November it was
revealed that most of the Bloody Sunday investigation team was to be
laid off because of “budget cutbacks”.
Sinn Fein Assembly member Raymond McCartney has welcomed the news that
the investigation will restart.
“Sinn Fein supported te families’ call that this investigation be
properly resourced to ensure the relatives get access to justice,” he
said.
“This will help engender public confidence in the investigation. We will
continue to support the Bloody Sunday families in their campaign for
truth and justice.”
The investigation will be handled by a new PSNI legacy unit until the
creation of a new ‘Historical Investigations Unit’ (HIU), as proposed in
the Stormont House Agreement, to take over responsibility from the now
defunct Historical Enquiries Team (HET).
Posted by Jim on January 8, 2015
Police are due to recommence their investigations into the events of Bloody Sunday later this month.
Lawyers for the family said 12 new detectives had been assigned to the case and would begin work soon.
Thirteen people were shot dead by the British Army on 30 January 1972 at a civil rights march in Londonderry. A 14th man died later from his wounds.
Detectives want to re-interview former soldiers and civilians who gave evidence to the Saville Inquiry.
In 2010, the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday was heavily critical of the Army, finding that soldiers fired the first shot without issuing a warning.
The report also found that all of those who were killed were unarmed. It said some of them were clearly fleeing or going to the assistance of others who were dying.
Detectives announced last January that officers were to begin questioning more than 1,000 witnesses.
However, police cuts meant the majority of the team that was in place were laid off in October.
Peter Madden, of Madden & Finucane, who represents the families of those killed and wounded on Bloody Sunday, lodged judicial review proceedings in response to the police decision.
“Since that time, and in advance of a court hearing, we have engaged in extensive and detailed correspondence with the PSNI, challenging the legality of its decisions and decision-making process, and as a direct consequence of issuing proceedings the PSNI has now decided to recommence the investigation,” Mr Madden said.
“We cautiously welcome this development.”
The new team of 12 detectives, which is being led by Det Ch Insp Ian Harrison, will begin work on 12 January.
Mr Madden said he would be meeting with Mr Harrison soon.