Posted by Jim on April 13, 2014
PRESS RELEASE
Gerry McGeough – 2011 Conviction Unsafe
Aiden Carlin Solicitor has welcomed the UK Supreme Court’s decision to grant Gerry McGeough leave to Appeal his case.
Commenting on the announcement, Aiden Carlin said: “In addition to the new headline facts disclosed about Gerry McGeough’s case, there are important aspects of European and domestic law which say his conviction is unsafe. Not least, the evidence adduced at Gerry McGeough’s trial from an alleged asylum application made 30 years ago in Sweden. The receipt of such evidence at his trial was a breach of common law rules and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. EU law recognises the need for a common policy of protection for asylum seekers yet in Gerry McGeough’s case this was repeatedly ignored.”
Solicitor Aiden Carlin concluded: “There is a clear momentum now to have Gerry McGeough’s 2011 conviction quashed because of material non-disclosure on a spectacular scale and errors in law during his trial and Appeal. We trust his UK Supreme Court hearing later this year will be another step in that direction.”
Posted by Jim on
By Jim Slaven (of the Edinburgh-based James Connolly Society)
“Fellow-workers, stand by the dignity of your class. All these parading
royalties, all this insolent aristocracy, all these grovelling,
dirt-eating capitalist traitors, all these are but signs of disease in
any social state – diseases which a royal visit brings to a head and
spews in all its nastiness before our horrified eyes” – James Connolly
So Martin McGuinness has finally met Betty Battenberg. It is obviously a
matter for Sinn Fein who they meet but from the outside this looks like
another ‘leadership initiative’ which has nothing to do with improving
the material conditions of the working class or advancing towards the
Republic. It does however put republicans outside Ireland in the
position of having to decide whether to show solidarity with this act or
not. For our part the James Connolly Society have been critical of the
SNP leaderships decision to come out as monarchists and abandon their
party policy of holding a post independence referendum on the future of
the monarchy. This is because we believe monarchy, and hereditary power
and privilege they represent, have no place in a democratic society and
the role of republicans is to actively oppose monarchy and advocate the
establishment of a republic where people are sovereign.While Sinn Fein have not went as far as the SNP their decision to meet
the British monarch is one many of us outside Ireland are unable to
support. Many people have sought to justify this decision on the basis
that the meeting is just symbolism. This is disingenuous in the extreme.
While the constitutional role of the monarch in the UK state may be
symbolic the British monarchy also plays a key ideological role. The
monarch’s visits to Ireland (and Scotland) like their weddings or
jubilees are used by the state to reinforce its influence and power. The
monarchy serves to strengthen and legitimise British hegemony on these
islands.
This meeting has been on the cards for some time and the JCS have been
discussing its inevitability and its consequences. During one of these
discussions one joker pointed out that I had actually led the way on
this issue as I had met Betty Battenberg back in 1999. The occasion was
the opening of the Scottish parliament and I should clarify something at
this point by pointing out that we were not invited but thought we had
something to contribute anyway.
The JCS thought it was disgrace that the British monarch was invited to
open the new Scottish parliament and decided to let her know. At the
same time the residents of Garvaghy Road were living under siege from so
called ‘Loyal Institutions’ such as the Orange Order and we decided
support for the residents should be central to the protest. The whole
story of that day has never been told and sadly there is not room to
tell it here. However this protest was organised with the full knowledge
of Sinn Fein who at that very time were in negotiations with the British
government and Unionist leaders at Stormont. In fact the JCS had made a
decision the previous evening to call the protest off if an agreement
was reached in those overnight negotiations. On the morning of the
protest we spoke to Sinn Fein who confirmed no deal had been reached and
the rest as they say is history.
All the protesters were resplendent in JCS ‘Disband the RUC’ t-shirts
and ‘End the Siege of Garvaghy Road’ placards. Evading the cops we made
our way over the barriers and past the royal protection squad. Once I
was on the carriage I saw old Phil trying to get out the other side and
noticed Betty could not take her eyes off my Disband the RUC t-shirt. I
only found out later that Charlie was sitting opposite. He was very
quiet. I still had the placard in my hand and despite the best efforts
of the armed cops in fancy dress on the back of the carriage me and
Betty shared a moment.
The conversation must remain between the two of us (for now at least)
but suffice to say I made my point robustly. Our discussion was
interrupted by one of the JCS shouting my name and just as well really
as I was about to be attacked by a horse or more accurately someone
dressed as a Beefeater on a horse. At this point I decided to make my
excuses and leave. What happened next is for another day but it involved
special forces, a gun on a string, refugees in Kosovo, terrified cops,
handcuffs that didn’t lock and Tommy Sheridan.
All of that was thirteen years ago and as many people never tire of
reminding us much has changed in the intervening years. And indeed it
has but much remains the same, such as the British state’s continued
denial of the Irish people’s right to national self-determination.
Another thing that remains the same is the JCS’ commitment to the
political philosophy of James Connolly and our commitment to working
with others to end the monarchy and breakup the British state. At this
political-economic conjuncture the UK state is in constitutional flux
and desperately trying to reconfigure itself for the 21st century. Now
is the time for republicans to be bold, principled and ambitious not to
pander to anachronistic and sectarian manifestations of Britishness and
elitism such as monarchy.
Had Martin sought my advice one tip I could have given him was that if
he wanted to speak to Betty Battenberg in a language other than English
he would have been better brushing up on German. I also could have
advised him that, in my experience of such meetings, republicans would
be better taking the James Connolly Society’s approach rather than Sinn
Fein’s when it comes to meeting monarchy.
“What is monarchy? From whence does it derive its sanction? What has
been its gift to humanity? Monarchy is a survival of the tyranny imposed
by the hand of greed and treachery upon the human race in the darkest
and most ignorant days of our history. It derives its only sanction from
the sword of the marauder, and the helplessness of the producer, and its
gifts to humanity are unknown, save as they can be measured in the
pernicious examples of triumphant and shameless iniquities.” – James
Connolly
Posted by Jim on April 10, 2014
Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness this evening stood for the British
national anthem and toasted the “health and happiness” of the English
queen in the most symbolic gesture yet of his party’s support for the
status quo in the north of Ireland.
Mr McGuinness was attending a banquet at Windsor Castle in honour of
the 26 County President Michael D Higgins, the first official state
visit by an Irish head of state to the English capital.
The visit was described by government press officers in Dublin and
London as the “final step to normal relations” between the two states,
and follows the infamous visit by the English royals to Dublin in 2011.
The queen said that the “heightened relations” which followed that
visit had pleased her. “Even more pleasing, since then,” she said, “is
that we, the Irish and British, are becoming good and dependable
neighbours and better friends; finally shedding our inhibitions about
seeing the best in each other.”
Earlier today, President Higgins addressed the Westminster parliament
— another first for a 26 County President — before being driven in a
ceremonial carriage to the castle to prepare for the royal banquet.
But amid the tightly choreographed pageantry, it was the actions of
Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander and now Six County Deputy
First Minister, which proved the most controversial element.
McGuinness sat just 15 places away from the queen, close to the centre
of the 160-foot long table which seated all 160 guests.
His participation infuriated Irish republicans ahead of the anniversary
of the 1916 Easter Rising. His unexpected decision to toast the queen
— a gesture which Irish citizens have historically refused to join —
was described by traditionalists as “a gratuitous insult” to Ireland’s
patriot dead.
Socialists in Ireland and Britain have also pointed to the inequity of
highly paid government officials enjoying a sumptuous menu of
delicacies — Isle of Gigha Halibat and tournedos of Windsor estate
beef were among them — while welfare cuts have forced people into soup
kitchens or emigration.
In his speech, President Higgins made reference to the queen’s visit to
Ireland, in which she “admirably” did not “shy away from the shadows of
the past”.
He said: “Your gracious and genuine curiosity, your evident delight in
that visit, including its equine dimension, made it very easy for us to
express to you and, through you to the British people, the warmth of
neighbourly feelings.”
People had been “moved” by the Windsors’ “gestures of respect” at sites
of national historical significance in Ireland, he said. “These
memorable moments and these moving words merit our appreciation and,
even more, our reciprocity.”
As a sign of that ‘reciprocity’, officials in Dublin and London are
understood to be planning for Windsor to stand alongside President
Higgins during the centenary Commemorations of Easter 1916, as a
symbolic gesture of Anglo-Irish unity.
Whole endorsing McGuinness’s actions, Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams also
said minds should be on the need for political leaders to resolve “all
of the outstanding issues in the peace process.”
He said that peace needed to be “celebrated on the streets as well as
in the palaces and the big houses”.
The Irish Republican Socialist Party was more critical. It said that
“unlike other actions since 1998 this move cannot be spun as a
concession for the good of the peace.”
They said as “an active move” by Sinn Fein to “seek engagement with the
highest echelons of the British establishment whilst normalising and
copper-fastening the economic and physical occupation of the Island”.
The Republican Network for Unity said McGuinness’s actions were
“incompatible” with “even the basic ideals of Republicanism” and that
they had “given legitimacy” to “monarchy, privilege and the class
system”.
“In these times of austerity, rising poverty and enforced inequality
across Ireland, England and beyond; the hosting of a one-time
revolutionary leader in the residence of the British monarch represents
a victory for the enemies of freedom and working class struggles
everywhere,” they said.
“All progressive thinking people – including Sinn Fein members – will
be disheartened by this farcical decision. RNU shares their
sentiments.”
Posted by Jim on
No blacks, no dogs, no Irish
The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, is on an official state visit to Britain, the first by an Irish head of state in some nine decades of independence. This follows the first official visit by Britain’s head of state, Elizabeth II, to Ireland and is yet another step in the ongoing choreography of the “Peace Process”, a process that continues to dominate the news headlines at home and abroad (even if most of the British media prefer to ignore it, unable to come to terms with peace in Ireland when war without end seemed so much more easier to digest). However just how far has this process actually progressed? The Irish Nationalist community in the north-east of our island nation continues to suffer levels of discrimination in employment and the provision of public services far above its Unionist rival. Despite the perception that the Nationalists have the “upper hand” politically they still struggle to gain equality socially and culturally. The language they speak, and even they very clothes they wear, makes them objects of suspicion and persecution.
On Sunday the 6th of April 2014 Diarmuid Mac Dubhghlais, the national treasurer of Sinn Féin Poblachtach (a minor Irish republican party and off-shoot of SF), was arrested and charged under counter-terrorism laws in the city of Derry by members of the PSNI, the British paramilitary police force in the north of Ireland. And the laws he broke? He answered in Irish to a question put to him in English. Yes, you read that right. An Irish citizen in Ireland was asked a question in English, he answered in the national language of Ireland, and for that he was arrested, charged and brought to court in Belfast under Britain’s counter-insurgency laws in our country. From the Belfast Telegraph:
“A man who gave his name and address in Irish when he was stopped by police has appeared at Londonderry Magistrates Court charged under anti-terrorism legislation.
Dermot Douglas (49) [ASF: that is Diarmuid Mac Dubhghlais], of Mellows Park in Dublin, was charged with not giving his details to the best of his ability under the Justice and Security Act on March 6.
Defence solicitor Brian Stelfox told the court his client had come out of a house in the Creggan area of the city and had been stopped by police, and when asked for identification gave his details in Irish.
District judge Barney McElholm asked: “Was the sum total of this case — that he gave his name in Irish?” Mr Stelfox said Douglas had “quite happily” allowed the police to search him, and then gave his name and address in Irish and was arrested.”
Peace process? One is tempted to ask, what peace process? However we have an even more outrageous event, from Hogan’s Stand, a bizarre attack on the rights of men and women in Ireland to wear the clothes they choose to wear if those clothes are recognisably Irish, and made by the leader of the TUV, one of several extreme parties amongst the Unionist minority:
“TUV leader Jim Allister says students wearing GAA jerseys to university are “creating a substantial chill factor”.
More and more Catholic students are opting to don club, county and college jerseys on campus at the north’s universities and – claiming to have received complaints from students at University of Ulster – Allister says the proliferation of GAA jerseys in intimidating members of the Protestant community.
In response to the Traditional Unionist Voice chief’s complaints, UU is to review its policy of allowing students to wear GAA tops…”
Forgot the Taliban. This is the Uniban. And forget western Europe. This is Europe’s regressive fringe. And we are part of it.
Posted by Jim on April 7, 2014
A senior figure in the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), Sean Pender, head of their Freedom for All Ireland Committee, has criticized this week’s state visit to Britain by Irish President Michael D. Higgins on the grounds that so much remains undone on issues relating to the Good Friday Agreement.
Pender said that it is time the British and Irish governments “stopped arranging photo ops” and addressed issues such as the Finucane murder case, the conduct of the PSNI, the truth behind the Dublin/Monaghan bombing and other related issues.
The AOH is America’s largest Irish group and the criticism comes after Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, Deputy First Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, agreed to take part in the visit, including attending the state dinner banquet at Windsor Castle hosted by Queen Elizabeth.