Posted by Jim on August 3, 2013
Secret British documents from 1983 show the high level of concern in
London at the rise of Sinn Fein, and advanced plans to limit media
opportunities for the party.
A number of documents were released by the British government from their
archives this week.
One reveals how, prior to the Westminster general election in June 1983,
British prime minister Margaret Thatcher moved to prevent the party
gaining publicity.
She was advised in a letter that exclusion orders against Sinn Fein
election candidates, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Daniel Morrison,
would have to be revoked if any of them were elected to the Westminster
Parliament.
The orders preventing the three entering Britain from the North of
Ireland had been in place since 8 December 1982.
Guessing Adams would be the likely winner in west Belfast, the letter
suggested “it will be best to revoke the order immediately the result is
known” to prevent a wave of publicity over a British MP’s exclusion from
Britain
In a handwritten note on the top of the letter, Thatcher agreed to the
Home Office suggestion.
She wrote: “If these people are elected. I believe we have to revoke the
order. But I don’t know that I am inclined to do it now. By the time the
Northern Ireland count takes place we should have some idea of how
things are going here. It may be necessary to consult as you suggest.”
There was also concern in British government circles in November 1982,
after Gerry Adams did an interview with the BBC’s Panorama programme.
A telegram dated 24 November 1982 and labelled ‘Restricted’ expressed
concerned that the Irish Times commented on “the superb mileage which
Gerry Adams got when he danced around Fred Emery [BBC reporter] and
secured what must be the most impressive piece of television exposure he
or the political wing of the PIRA have ever had unquote”.
The confidential telegram said: “Several other people here have
commented that Emery was simply not briefed for the task and the
programme will have done damage both in Northern Ireland and the
Republic. For these reasons, I think that the cassette should be used
sparingly if at all in non-official circles.”
ESCAPED
Fears of a republican publicity breakthrough also dominated Thatcher’s
response to the 1983 escape of 38 IRA prisoners of war from the H-Blocks
of Long Kesh.
She declared it was “even worse than we thought” across the top of a
document urging a propaganda counter-effort.
The strongly-worded advice sent by telegram from the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office to its embassies and colonies stated: “You should
take every opportunity to limit the propaganda benefit the IRA will reap
from the outbreak… the Government regard the outbreak most seriously.”
And later in the year, Thatcher considered banning Sinn Fein entirely,
despite fears that a proscribed Sinn Fein could re-emerge under another
name, and that banning the party could produce mass defiance and
widespread civil disobedience.
Files from 22 December 1983 show that the British Cabinet took no action
on that matter — but opted instead to look again at selective
internment.
Posted by Jim on
By Ardoyne Republican
Internment or Detention Without Trial is nothing new to Irish people and
has been used every few decades throughout our Nation’s occupation.
Whenever Westminster chose to imprison and/or exile entire communities
throughout the country. The Twentieth Century witnessed a number of
phases of Internment in attempts to quell resistance to British Rule
beginning after the 1916 Rising and ending in 1975. Internment conjurs
up a collective legacy of a denial of justice, violence and brutality
inflicted upon fellow citizens and communities. And so it was again on
August 9th 1971, when hundreds of Republicans, Nationalists and
Socialists were brutally dragged from their beds in dawn swoops by
heavily-armed British soldiers and thrown into armoured vehicles and
driven away to the cries of the mothers, wives and children.
In Ardoyne alone, riots took place across the district as news of mass
arrests spread from home to home. The Provisional & Official sections of
the IRA in the area mounted a number of military operations to keep the
troops out. Gun battles between Republicans & the British were
commonplace throughout the day and the Woodvale Defence Association
(WDA), forerunner of the UDA used Internment to force Catholic families
from a dozens of homes in the Woodvale, Glenbryn and Ballysillan areas.
They also wrecked and burnt hundreds of other homes that Protestants
lived in Cranbrook, Farringdon Gardens and Velsheda to ensure Catholic
families could not move into them. The British Army also went on the
rampage in and around Ardoyne killing a Protestant householder, Sarah
Worthington in Velsheda, claiming she had a rifle? To date, no member of
the British Crown Forces has been made accountable for her murder. They
were also firing wrecklessly into Etna Drive and Jamaica Street for
hours from Glenbryn, until the IRA returned fire. During the ensuing
battle, dedicated Volunteer, Paddy McAdorey was killed defending his
community.
Internment had a massive impact on Nationalist Belfast and communities
including Ardoyne responded in the only way they knew how, with riots,
burnings and trouble. Political representation in the Six Counties
during the Seventies was pretty grim and the SDLP, encouraged a general
boycott of the Unionist and British Authorities. Although, they later,
failing the electorate by embracing the system and helped criminalise
those who supported the Civil Disobeience campaign. Over the next five
years, many who believed in human rights campaigned for the prisoners,
took to the streets, protested, refused to pay rent for council houses
and marched. The British criminalised entire communities due to their
support for the Internees to the extent that they gunned-down 14
marchers in Derry during an Anti-Internment Rally on January 31st, 1972.
Branding them gunmen and bombers, a final act of injustice.
Throughout the remainder of the Seventies, most potential voters
continued distrusting Political Parties and felt the only way to be
heard was through violence. As such, young people in Ardoyne and other
Nationalist areas marked the anniversary of Internment with Bonfires
that always resulted in riots between youths and British Troops.
Throughout the summer months, young people collected and gathered wood
for a number of bonfires to be lit at Midnight on August 9. After the
1980 & 1981 Hunger-Strikes, both the Provisional IRA and INLA used riots
as opportunities to cunduct operations against the British and RUC. A
deadly mix of emotions that almost always left many within the district,
shot and wounded by live rounds, Plastic Bullets and heavy batons. In
one such riot, the RUC shot and killed young Bone resident, Seamus Duffy
(15) in Dawson Street, off the New Lodge Road on August 8th, 1989.
On the afternoon of August 8th 1988, a few comrades and I had been
standing in the garden of 100 Brompton Park, the Sinn Fein Centre in
Ardoyne. Enjoying the summer’s weather, when we noticed a car slowing
down and a man in the back looking suspiciously at us as it sped away. A
short distance away, a lorry had just delivered drinks to the Highfield
Social Club and was leaving for it’s next job. A number of local youths
standing outside Whelan’s Shop in Etna Drive, were sharing a yarn. When
a UVF man alighted from the sunroof of the car armed with an automatic
rifle and directed his fire at them. As they dived for cover, eighteen
year-old, Seamus Morris from Highbury Gardens. His younger brother,
Conor and a friend luckily survived. As chaos reigned, the car attempted
to make good it’s escape but found it’s way blocked by the same lorry
and was forced to mount the footpath. The lorry driver and his helper
had courageously decided to ram the getaway car. As it drove up the
kerb, the gunman again opened fire into the cab of the lorry and killed
it’s passenger, Peter Dolan (32) from West Belfast.
I didn’t know Seamus well, we attended different Schools. However, he
was a very nice person and never passed you by without a hello. He was
known locally as a quiet fella, very intelligent and had worked in the
Civil Service. As with nearly everyone killed from the locality by
Loyalists, Seamus had absolutly no connection to Republicanism and was
clearly a victim of a random sectarian shooting. The two murders were
eventually admitted by the Protesstant Action Force (PAF), a cover-name
for the UVF. The death of Seamus had a devastating impact on his family
and his Mother contracted cancer soon afterwards and died four years
later. His Dad never recovered and couldn’t even speak about his son.
Therefore, I’m proud to announce on this Blog that on his and Peter’s
25th anniversary a Plague will be unveiled outside Whelan’s Shop on
August Sunday 11th, August at 1pm. The details of which I publish below.
I would encourage everyone to please attend and show solidarity with
both families.
In another event to mark Internment, the Anti-Internment League has
organised a large march which will leave Ardoyne Avenue at 6pm on Friday
9th, August. The parade will proceed down the Oldpark Road, Rosepenna
Street, Cliftonville Road, Antrim Road, New Lodge Road, North Queen
Street, Donegall Street, Royal Avenue, up Castle Street onto Divis
Street where it will meet other marchers and bands. The march will then
proceed up the Falls Road, Anderstown Road and into the Busy Bee, where
a Rally will be held to recall those incarcerated between 1971 and 1975.
It will also focus on Political Prisoners currently held behind bars
like Martin Corey and others Interned by Remand. Where POWs’ can be held
up to 3 years before trial. The march has been endorsed by a number of
Republican Political Groups, such as the Irish Republican Socialist
Party (IRSP), Republican Network for Unity (RNU), Eirigi, the 1916
Societies and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement. Once again, I would
ask anyone with an interest in Human Rights to please attend the above
march and demonstrate your opposition to Internment.
Posted by Jim on July 30, 2013
Ciaran Staunton says government is more concerned with diplomacy than seeking change for the Irish in America
By IrishCentral Staff Writers,
Ciaran Staunton, the president of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR), has said the inaction of the Irish government’s Department of Foreign Affairs, with relation to US immigration reform, has left his group feeling “isolated”.
Speaking to Cork’s Irish Examiner, Staunton said the Irish Government is old-fashioned in its approach. He also told them the government is more concerned with diplomacy than with making a real change for the Irish undocumented in the United States.
He said, “When it comes to the politics of Washington most people are using the iPhone. But the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish Embassy are still using the rotary dial-up.
“The policies have never changed. What happens when you have the permanent government situation, the script is the same.
“We can only advise them. We’re Irish-American and they’re a foreign government but ultimately they can open doors.”
Despite the lack of support from across the pond Staunton continued to push the message from Irish-America (that they want immigration reform for the undocumented Irish) throughout the United States.
Staunton also spoke about Senator Edward Kennedy’s Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which made it more difficult for the Irish to obtain a working visa in the United States. As Kennedy himself pointed out the Act was discriminatory.
The ILIR head said the Irish government has never addressed the fact that the Irish are being discriminated by their current lack of visa options.
He said, “Official Ireland has been very reluctant — I don’t think they’ve ever addressed the 1965 Act. The department [Foreign Affairs] have been the weak link. There’s a mentality of ‘let’s not talk about it, let’s not ask’. One of the things in Washington is that you always have to be looking, you always have to be pushing.”
The Irish Government has defended its role. They have funded the immigration reform lobby $430,366 (€324,637) since 2006.
During Eamon Gilmore, Ireland’s Deputy leader’s, visit to Washington DC he said the Irish Government has been addressing this issue since 2006