In early November 2014, exactly 25 years after our first gig, Black 47 will disband.

Posted by Jim on October 7, 2013

Last Call

In early November 2014, exactly 25 years after our first gig, Black 47 will disband.

An Account of the Long Kesh prison breakout, 30 years ago this week

Posted by Jim on September 30, 2013

 
 In October 1981, at the end of the Hunger Strike, the British government
 announced the defeat of the republican prisoners in the H Blocks of Long
 Kesh. Less than two years later, 38 of those ‘defeated’ republicans
 smashed their way out of what had been claimed as the “most secure jail
 in Europe”, inflicting a major political and military defeat on the
 British.
 
 The 1983 escape was a major undertaking for the Irish Republican Army,
 both inside and outside the jail. The organisation outside the prison
 devoted time and resources to the breakout plan during a period of
 intense pressure by the British. Inside Long Kesh, the republican POWs
 spent countless hours in preparation – the painstaking collection and
 collation of intelligence, the meticulous planning of each stage of the
 operation, the continuous briefing of people on their roles and the
 acquiring and safekeeping of weapons vital to success.
 
 It was Ardoyne tactician Larry Marley who established the bold and
 expansive objective of getting the maximum number of men possible out of
 the jail. He led a specialist team of five men selected by the camp
 leadership and entrusted with the business of organising escapes.
 
 He masterminded the escape plan that would revolve around a weak link
 identified in prison security, the lorry used to deliver meals to the
 different blocks. Of particular interest was the fact that the lorry was
 never searched on its way round the camp.
 
 The escape committee next turned their attention to seizing control of a
 H Block. They realised the key to such an ambitious plan was gaining
 control of the central crossbar of the ‘H’, which serves as an entrance
 hall and administrative area and is known, in a throwback to Victorian
 jails, as “the circle”.
 
 In order for their plan to succeed, the prisoners realised that they had
 to lull the staff into a false sense of security. The ending of the
 ‘no-work’ protest aided this plan, as it meant the prisoners were out of
 their cells for long periods, aiding the psychological battle against
 the screws, who now found themselves outnumbered. The prison
 authorities, eager to publicise the ‘normalisation’ of the prison, were
 happy to put prisoners to work as orderlies cleaning all over the block,
 including the circle.
 
 The end result of this was a situation whereby some of the most renowned
 republican prisoners in Long Kesh became apparently eager to do prison
 work and made concerted efforts to become pally with screws. The
 prisoners in H7 carefully nurtured a relaxed atmosphere until it became
 the norm and the screws viewed security breaches by the prisoners as
 innocuous.
 
 A number of the prisoners ordered to befriend the screws were not aware
 of the escape plan and swallowed this bitter pill on trust. Other
 prisoners, also unaware of the escape plan, were upset at what they
 witnessed, not surprising given the brutal history of previous years,
 and there was a constant rumbling of discontent below the surface.
 
 The camp leadership appointed Bobby Storey as OC of the operation and
 Bik McFarlane as his adjutant. Both were already members of the escape
 committee.
 
 Finally, Sunday 25 September was chosen as the appointed day, and the
 plan was put into effect. As the day approached, more prisoners were let
 in on the plan and those on the list to escape were informed. Other
 prisoners would play a vital role in taking the Block and guarding the
 screws but would not be escaping.
 
 In the event, the Block was taken according to plan. One screw was shot
 and injured when he attempted to shut the door of the control room and
 raise the alarm.
 
 The next stage of the plan also went well. The food lorry was
 successfully hijacked and the driver was forced at gunpoint to take his
 now human cargo out of the prison.
 
 Where the escapers ran into problems was at the tally lodge at the
 prison’s main entrance. The plan was to seize control of the lodge, hold
 the screws inside hostage while the lorry was driven through the
 ‘airlock’ at the main gate. Everyone was then to rendezvous with a
 heavily armed force of IRA Volunteers who were waiting a few miles from
 the jail.
 
 But by this stage the escape was running 20 minutes late and the lorry’s
 arrival coincided with a shift change for the screws. Those prisoners
 who took control of the tally lodge were soon knee-deep in screws, as
 they arrested more and more as they came on duty.
 
 Eventually the prisoners’ hand was forced when more screws coming on
 duty realised that something was wrong and two of them blocked the
 gateway with their cars.
 
 Bik saw this as he opened the main hydraulic gate and he and Bobby
 quickly conferred, realising that the general alarm was about to be
 sounded. The prisoners had no option but to leave the lorry and rush the
 main gate in numbers.
 
 Thirty-five prisoners managed to breach the prison perimeter
 successfully. In all, 19 of those on the escape were quickly recaptured,
 but the other 19 successfully managed to evade capture, by a variety of
 means and routes. One screw, who was stabbed in the struggle at the
 tally lodge, later died, but the coroner subsequently ruled he had
 succumbed not to his wounds but to a heart attack.
 
 Back in the prison, when the screws retook H7, the rearguard were strip
 searched and were then made to run a vicious gauntlet of baton wielding
 screws and dogs, as they were moved to H8.
 
 * In July of this year, it emerged how deeply the 1983 escape affected
 the Thatcher regime. Concerned about the huge boost to republican
 spirits, Thatcher said she regarded the escape “most seriously”. After
 learning it had involved scores of prisoners, the so-called ‘Iron Lady’
 privately admitted the breakout was “even worse than we thought”.

“Let no man write my epitaph” – Robert Emmet’s speach on eve of execution 1803

Posted by Jim on September 21, 2013

 Robert Emmet, hero of the 1803 rising, was executed 210 years ago today.
 The following is the speech he made on the eve of his execution.
 ——————————————————————-
 
 
 My Lords:
 
 What have I to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced on me
 according to law?  I have nothing to say that can alter your
 predetermination, nor that it will become me to say with any view to the
 mitigation of that sentence which you are here to pronounce, and I must
 abide by.  But I have that to say which interests me more than life, and
 which you have labored (as was necessarily your office in the present
 circumstances of this oppressed country) to destroy.  I have much to say
 why my reputation should be rescued from the load of false accusation
 and calumny which has been heaped upon it.  I do not imagine that,
 seated where you are, your minds can be so free from impurity as to
 receive the least impression from what I am going to utter–I have no
 hopes that I can anchor my character in the breast of a court
 constituted and trammeled as this is–I only wish, and it is the utmost
 I expect, that your lordships may suffer it to float down your memories
 untainted by the foul breath of prejudice, until it finds some more
 hospitable harbor to shelter it from the storm by which it is at present
 buffeted.
 
 Was I only to suffer death after being adjudged guilty by your tribunal,
 I should bow in silence and meet the fate that awaits me without a
 murmur; but the sentence of law which delivers my body to the
 executioner will, through the ministry of that law, labor in its own
 vindication to consign my character to obloquy–for there must be guilt
 somewhere: whether in the sentence of the court in the catastrophe,
 posterity must determine. A man in my situation, my lords, has not only
 to encounter the difficulties of fortune. and the force of power over
 minds which it has corrupted or subjugated. but the difficulties of
 established prejudice: the man dies, but his memory lives. That mine may
 not perish, that it may live in the respect of my countrymen, I seize
 upon this opportunity to vindicate myself from some of the charges
 alleged against me. When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly
 port; when my shade shall have joined the bands of those martyred heroes
 who have shed their blood on the scaffold and in the field, in defense
 of their country and of virtue. this is my hope: I wish that my memory
 and name may animate those who survive me, while I look down with
 complacency on the destruction of that perfidious government which
 upholds its domination by blasphemy of the Most High-which displays its
 power over man as over the beasts of the forest-which sets man upon his
 brother, and lifts his hand in the name of God against the throat of his
 fellow who believes or doubts a little more or a little less than the
 government standard–a government which is steeled to barbarity by the
 cries of the orphans and the tears of the widows which it has made.
 
 [Interruption by the court.]
 
 I appeal to the immaculate God–I swear by the throne of heaven, before
 which I must shortly appear–by the blood of the murdered patriots who
 have gone before me that my conduct has been through all this peril and
 all my purposes governed only by the convictions which I have uttered,
 and by no other view than that of their cure, and the emancipation of my
 country from the superinhuman oppression under which she has so long and
 too patiently travailed; and that I confidently and assuredly hope that,
 wild and chimerical as it may appear, there is still union and strength
 in Ireland to accomplish this noble enterprise. of this I speak with the
 confidence of intimate knowledge, and with the consolation that
 appertains to that confidence. Think not, my lords, I say this for the
 petty gratification of giving you a transitory uneasiness; a man who
 never yet raised his voice to assert a lie will not hazard his character
 with posterity by asserting a falsehood on a subject so important to his
 country, and on an occasion like this. Yes. my lords. a man who does not
 wish to have his epitaph written until his country is liberated will not
 leave a weapon in the power of envy, nor a pretense to impeach the
 probity which he means to preserve even in the grave to which tyranny
 consigns him.
 
 [Interruption by the court.]
 
 Again I say, that what I have spoken was not intended for your lordship,
 whose situation I commiserate rather than envy-my expressions were for
 my countrymen; if there is a true Irishman present. let my last words
 cheer him in the hour of his affliction.
 
 [Interruption by the court.]
 
 I have always understood it to be the duty of a judge. when a prisoner
 has been convicted, to pronounce the sentence of the law; I have also
 understood that judges sometimes think it their duty to hear with
 patience and to speak with humanity. to exhort the victim of the laws.
 and to offer with tender benignity his opinions of the motives by which
 he was actuated in the crime, of which he had been adjudged guilty: that
 a judge has thought it his duty so to have done. I have no doubt–but
 where is the boasted freedom of your institutions. where is the vaunted
 impartiality, clemency. and mildness of your courts of justice, if an
 unfortunate prisoner, whom your policy, and not pure justice. is about
 to deliver into the hands of the executioner. is not suffered to explain
 his motives sincerely and truly. and to vindicate the principles by
 which he was actuated?
 
 My lords, it may be a part of the system of angry justice, to bow a
 man’s mind by humiliation to the purposed ignominy of the scaffold; but
 worse to me than the purposed shame, or the scaffold’s terrors, would be
 the shame of such unfounded imputations as have been laid against me in
 this court: you, my lord [Lord Norbury], are a judge. I am the supposed
 culprit; I am a man, you are a man also; by a revolution of power, we
 might change places, though we never could change characters; if I stand
 at the bar of this court and dare not vindicate my character, what a
 farce is your justice? If I stand at this bar and dare not vindicate my
 character. flow dare you calumniate it? Does the sentence of death which
 your unhallowed policy inflicts on my body also condemn my tongue to
 silence and my reputation to reproach? Your executioner may abridge the
 period of my existence. but while I exist I shall not forbear to
 vindicate my character and motives from your aspersions: and as a man to
 whom fame is dearer than life, I will make the last use of that life in
 doing justice to that reputation which is to live after me, and which is
 the only legacy I can leave to those I honor and love, and for whom I am
 proud to perish. As men, my lord, we must appear at the great day at one
 common tribunal. and it will then remain for the searcher of all hearts
 to show a collective universe who was engaged in the most virtuous
 actions. or actuated by the purest motives-my country’s oppressors or–
 
 [Interruption by the court.]
 
 My lord, will a dying man be denied the legal privilege of exculpating
 himself, in the eyes of the community, of an undeserved reproach thrown
 upon him during his trial, by charging him with ambition and attempting
 to cast away, for a paltry consideration. the liberties of his country?
 Why did your lordship insult me? or rather why insult justice. in
 demanding of me why sentence of death should not be pronounced? I know,
 my lord, that form prescribes that you should ask the question; the form
 also presumes a right of answering. This no doubt may be dispensed
 with–and so might the whole ceremony of trial, since sentence was
 already pronounced at the castle, before your jury was impaneled; your
 lordships are but the priests of the oracle, and I submit; but I insist
 on the whole of the forms.
 
 I am charged with being an emissary of France An emissary of France? And
 for what end? It is alleged that I wished to sell the independence of my
 country? And for what end? Was this the object of my ambition? And is
 this the mode by which a tribunal of justice reconciles contradictions?
 No, I am no emissary; and my ambition was to hold a place among the
 deliverers of my country–not in power, nor in profit, but in the glory
 of the achievement!…
 
 Connection with Prance was indeed intended, but only as far as mutual
 interest would sanction or require. Were they to assume any authority
 inconsistent with the purest independence. it would be the signal for
 their destruction: we sought aid, and we sought it, as we had assurances
 we should obtain it–as auxiliaries in war and allies in peace…
 
 I wished to procure for my country the guarantee which Washington
 procured for America. To procure an aid, which, by its example, would be
 as important as its valor, disciplined. gallant, pregnant with science
 and experience; which would perceive the good and polish the rough
 points of our character. They would come to us as strangers and leave us
 as friends, after sharing in our perils and elevating our destiny. These
 were my objects–not to receive new taskmasters hilt to expel old
 tyrants: these were my views. and these only became Irishmen. It was for
 these ends I sought aid from France; because France, even as an enemy.
 could not he more implacable than the enemy already in the bosom of my
 country.
 
 [Interruption by the court.]
 
 I have been charged with that importance in the efforts to emancipate my
 country. as to be considered the keystone of the combination of
 Irishmen; or, as Your Lordship expressed it, “the life and blood of
 conspiracy.” You do me honor overmuch. You have given to the subaltern
 all the credit of a superior. There are men engaged in this conspiracy,
 who are not only superior to me but even to your own conceptions of
 yourself, my lord; men, before the splendor of whose genius and virtues,
 I should bow with respectful deference, and who would think themselves
 dishonored to be called your friend–who would not disgrace themselves
 by shaking your bloodstained hand–
 
 [Interruption by the court]
 
 What, my lord, shall you tell me, on the passage to that scaffold. Which
 that tyranny. of which you are only the intermediary executioner. Has
 erected for my murder. that I am accountable for all the blood that has
 and will be shed in this struggle of the oppressed against the
 oppressor?–shall you tell me this–and must I be so very a slave as not
 to repel it?
 
 I do not fear to approach the omnipotent Judge, to answer for the
 conduct of my whole life; and am I to be appalled and falsified by a
 mere remnant of mortality here? By you. too. who, if it were possible to
 collect all the innocent blood that you have shed in your unhallowed
 ministry, in one great reservoir. Your Lordship might swim in it.
 
 [Interruption by the court.]
 
 Let no man dare, when I am dead. to charge me with dishonor; let no man
 attaint my memory by believing that I could have engaged in any cause
 but that of my country’s liberty and independence, or that I could have
 become the pliant minion of power in the oppression or the miseries of
 my countrymen. The proclamation of the provisional government speaks for
 our views; no inference can he tortured from it to countenance barbarity
 or debasement at home, or subjection. humiliation. or treachery from
 abroad; I would not have submitted to a foreign oppressor for the same
 reason that I would resist the foreign and domestic oppressor: in the
 dignity of freedom I would have fought upon the threshold of my country,
 and its enemy should enter only by passing over my lifeless corpse. Am
 I, who lived but for my country, and who have subjected myself to the
 dangers of the jealous and watchful oppressor, and the bondage of the
 grave, only to give my countrymen their rights, and my country her
 independence, and am I to be loaded with calumny and not suffered to
 resent or repel it–no, God forbid!
 
 If the spirits of the illustrious dead participate in the concerns and
 cares of those who are dear to them in this transitory life–oh, ever
 dear and venerated shade of my departed father. look down with scrutiny
 upon the conduct of your suffering son; and see if I have even for a
 moment deviated from those principles of morality and patriotism which
 it was your care to instill into my youthful mind, and for which I am
 now to offer up my life!
 
 My lords, you are impatient for the sacrifice-the blood which you seek
 is not congealed by the artificial terrors which surround your victim;
 it circulates warmly and unruffled, through the channels which God
 created for noble purposes. but which you are bent to destroy. for
 purposes so grievous. that they cry to heaven. Be yet patient! I have
 but a few words more to say. I am going to my cold and silent grave: my
 lamp of life is nearly extinguished: my race is run: the grave opens to
 receive me, and I sink into its bosom! I have but one request to ask at
 my departure from this world–it is the charity of its silence! Let no
 man write my epitaph: for as no man who knows my motives dare now
 vindicate them. let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let them
 and me repose in obscurity and peace, and my tomb remain uninscribed,
 until other times, and other men, can do justice to my character; when
 my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not
 till then, let my epitaph be written. I have done.

1916 Societies are Growing

Posted by admin on

by Roger Casement

The Irish diaspora looking afar at the mayhem caused by marauding loyalists in Belfast during the summer over the flying of British flags and rerouting of Orange parades must wonder:  fifteen years on from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, just what progress is being made toward a United Ireland? 

The British Secretary of State have rejected Sinn Fein’s call for a Border Poll as envisioned in the Good Friday Agreement, showing once again where the real power lies in the British occupied six counties.   The Good Friday Agreement, St Andrews Agreement and Weston Park Agreements had at their basis, equality between the political spectrums in the North of Ireland;  The results speak for themselves.  Fifteen years on, there has been no Bill of Rights, no Irish Language Act, no agreement on the past and no agreement on a shared future.  Irish symbols are reduced to sitting atop loyalist bonfires.  The DUP seemingly have wiped the floor with Sinn Féin on the Long Kesh peace center project.  Despite Loyalist propaganda that Republicans are getting all the spoils, Nationalists are still more likely to be unemployed and living in poorer social conditions than Unionists.  The British refuse to allow independent investigations into state murders, destroy and withhold any evidence that incriminates their armed forces and government officials in running loyalist death squads.  Internment without trial and incessant harassment of Irish Republican political activists by MI5 agents and rehired RUC protagonists has shown once again the futility of trying to make the six counties work.  One could say the Orange State has never appeared stronger.  Many now believe that a United Ireland has never appeared further away. 

A number of local Irish diaspora are addressing this issue in a new way.  Roger Casement Society SoCal is the first chartered 1916 Societies within the US.  The basis of the group’s outreach is the 1916 Proclamation and at the core of their objectives is petitioning for One Ireland, One Vote.  Whereas the Good Friday Agreement needs the consent of the British Government to hold a Border poll, and then a 50% plus one vote in the North to agree to it, the Societies believe that only the Irish people voting as a whole are entitled to and can deliver Irish Unity.  The 1916 Societies are growing at an amazing rate all across Ireland’s 32 counties as many alienated Irish Republicans return to the principles of the Irish Proclamation.

Roger Casement Society SoCal plans educational events, discussion of Irish Republicanism, commemoration of historical events, and promotion of Irish culture, language and sport.  The 1916 Societies are an independent organization which gives no allegiance or favor to any political organization. Individual members my favor or indeed be involved with political organizations, but the 1916 Societies as a collective body will remain independent.   Membership of the 1916Societies is open to any Irish Republican regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation or ability, except to those who endorse British rule and accept crown forces as a legitimate force in any part of Ireland.

An introductory and informational event is being planned for Sunday 29 September, 2013 at 1:00PM, 8176 Atlanta Ave, in Huntington Beach, CA. (see attached flyer)

Upcoming events are being planned for Temecula and San Diego in the next two months for anyone interested in hearing more and revitalizing their interest in Irish Republicanism.

We encourage and offer our assistance with the formation of other 1916 Societies across the USA.

For further information contact us at 1916societies@gmail.com, Like us on facebook at: facebook.com/rogercasementsocietysocal and follow us on Twitter at @RCasementSoCal

Please RSVP to 1916Societies@Gmail.com if you would plan to attend the September event, or would like more information about the 1916Societies.

Bring him home – SUPPORT THE REPATRIATION OF MICHAEL CAMPBELL TO IRELAND

Posted by Jim on September 17, 2013

Four Irish TDs – Clare Daly, Eamon O Cuiv, Martin Ferris and Mick

Wallace – recently visited the prison MI5 sting victim Michael Campbell

is being held in in Lithuania, and were horrified by the conditions he

endures.

A campaign is underway to apply pressure on the 26 County Department of

Justice Alan Shatter and the Dept of Foreign Affairs, as well as the

Lithuanian authorities, for some resolution to this horror.

Campaigners for Michael have urged concerned people to sign a petition

on his behalf at http://chn.ge/VscyyT and tyo write letters on his

behalf.

“We were years in the silent dark now that chinks of light illuminate

this issue please don’t let that light go out. Ordinary people, the

Citizens of Ireland and many abroad with no flags or banners just the

surrounds of decency brought us here – lets go forward still.”

—————————

TEXT OF PETITION/SUGGESTED LETTER

To:

Human Rights Supporters

BRING HIM HOME -Support the repatriation of Michael Campbell to Ireland

Michael Campbell has been held captive in the Lithuania prisons since

January 2008. As such he is the only Irish Republican Political Prisoner

being held in a foreign prison.

Despite being convicted and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in

October 2011, Michael continues to be held in the most horrific

conditions imaginable, thousands of miles from his home, wife and his

family.

Michael is not deemed eligible for repatriation to Ireland until all

legal affairs in Lithuania have been concluded. Each day that passes,

Michael’s human rights are violated as he is subjected to severely

overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. These are the same conditions Mr.

Justice Burgess highlighted in his decision to block the extradition of

Michael’s brother, Liam Campbell. Justice Burgess communicated that the

jail conditions in Lithuania presented a risk of inhuman and degrading

treatment. His decision was based on a published report by Professor Rod

Morgan, an independent expert in criminal justice and the former head of

Britain’s Youth Justice Board.

Professor Morgan’s report noted conditions in the Lithuanian prison to

be ‘totally unacceptable’, including cells in a poor state of repair and

filthy, little or no access to natural light, inadequate artificial

lighting, lack of ventilation, unhygienic toilets, inadequate drinking

water provision and absence of outdoor exercise facilities.

If the extradition of one Political Prisoner to Lithuania was blocked

due to the fact that such action would breach his right to freedom from

torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment under European

law, how is it then legally or morally acceptable for Michael to

continue to be imprisoned there?

The conditions of the jail in Lithuania are in violation of the human

rights standards and sanitation regulations due to overcrowding. The

conditions are in direct contravention of prisoners’ human rights. In

Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it clearly

states, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or

degrading treatment or punishment”. These are basic rights all human are

entitled to.

Michael’s rights are not being recognized or upheld. International human

rights law lays down obligations which are bound to respect. There are

obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect

and to fulfill human rights. The obligation to protect requires the

protection of individuals and groups against human rights abuses. The

obligation to respect means refraining from interfering with or

curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to protect

requires the protection of individuals and groups against human rights

abuses. The obligation to fulfill the duties under the law includes

positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights.

On 05 Dec 2011 the EU Prisoner Transfer Agreement was entered into force

to govern the transfer of prisoners between member states of the

European Union to ensure foreign national prisoners serve their

sentences in their own country. Why then has Michael not been returned

to his own country?

Given Michael has no voice of his own, it is on HIS behalf we, the

undersigned, beseech you to act without delay to uphold his human and

legal rights and petition to have him extradited to Ireland to serve out

his sentence.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

—————————

Helpful addresses to support Michael

Department of the Taoiseach

Government Buildings

Upper Merrion Street

Dublin 2

Ireland

taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

80 St. Stephen’s Green

Dublin 2

Ireland

tanaiste@dfa.ie

Department of Justice and Equality

94 St. Stephen’s Green

Dublin 2

Ireland

minister@justice.ie

The Irish Embassy in Lithunia:

Irish Embassy in Vilnius,

Lithuania

Gedimino pr. 1

01103 Vilnius

Lithuania

Telephone (+370) 5 2699460

Telefax (+370) 5 2699462

Lithuanian Embassy Dublin

LIETUVOS RESPUBLIKOS A

MBASADA AIRIJOJE

47 Ailesbury Road,

Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

IRELAND

Tel. +353 1 2035757

MICHAEL CAMPBELL

Pravieniskiu Pataisos

Namai-Atuiroji Kolonlja

2-oji Valdyba

Pvavieniskiu # 1x

Kaisiadoriu

LT-56552

Lithuania

LITHUANIAN PROSECUTOR.

Gedgaudas Norkunas

Prosecutor

Vilnius regional

prosecutor’s office

Rinktines str. 5a

09233 Vilnius

Lithuania