Posted by Jim on August 19, 2011
By Gerry Adams (for Leargas)
A few weeks ago a good friend and sound man with whom I spent time in Long Kesh in the early 70s visited me in Leinster House. It was his 70th birthday and he and my brother Paddy and wee Harry came along to look around the place. He brought with him some poems he has written over the years.
One in particular, ‘The Long Road’ was about the 1981 hunger strike and I immediately set it aside knowing that I would use it as part of remarks I was to make at the national hunger strike commemoration in Camlough. And I did. The march was yesterday and I used the poem to open my speech.
The Long Road
The Hard Road
The Brutal Road
The Torture Road
The Naked Road
The Blanket Road
The Hunger Road
The Martyr Road
The road through the long Bog …
Ten men walked them all.
The crowd at yesterday’s march and commemoration was among the biggest I have seen in many a long time. It took almost one hour to pass any given point. The weather was generally good and with the hills of South Armagh all around us it was a beautiful setting to mark 30 years since that traumatic summer of ’81.
As well as marking the deaths of Bobby, Francie, Raymond, Patsy, Joe, Martin, Kevin, Kieran, Tom and Mickey, the commemoration also remembered Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg.
There were people from all across the island. And the organizing committee from South Armagh did a great job of planning the event, including a private gathering before hand at which presentations were made to the families of the hunger strikers.
A glass presentation was made by the South Armagh organisers and Jack O’Patsy’s Pottery in Youghal in County Cork also made a special plate presentation which was given to the families.
The event was notable for many reasons but not least for the numbers of young people who attended and participated.
Emma McArdle chaired the commemoration and young people from across South Armagh read brief biographies of the 12 hunger strikers. White doves were released, Paddy Martin played the uillean pipes, Ailin McIlwee sang ‘Raymond’s song’ and Paddy Quinn lowered the national flag during the minutes silence.
I gave the main speech and I include most of it below.
—–
The hunger strike was 30 years ago. It was a watershed moment in Irish history. In the summer of 81 over 50 people were killed and many hundreds more were injured. 30,000 plastic bullets were fired mostly in republican Belfast and Derry.
7 people died as a result, three of them children, and countless hundreds injured.
The hunger strike came at the end of a decade in which the British government had employed every conceivable weapon in its substantial military and political arsenal.
Internment; torture; shoot-to-kill actions; rubber and plastic and lead bullets; CS and CR gas; curfews and mass arrests; black propaganda; special courts and special laws and an orange judiciary; sectarian attacks and collusion, and the withdrawal of political status for the prisoners in the H Blocks and Armagh women’s prison, were all part of a concerted British strategy.
So too were its efforts to build political alliances with the SDLP and the Irish government. The British aim was simple – to protect British interests, and to defeat Irish republicanism and the struggle for Irish unity and independence.
Despite its propaganda and lies the British government knew that republicans enjoyed a substantial level of support. So, severing the connection between the republican struggle and the people was key and criminalisation was a central part of this strategy. Breaking the prisoners was crucial.
Chreid na Sasanaigh gurbh fheidir priosunai poblachtacha a bhuaileadh agus a sceimhliu chun eide coirpigh a chaitheamh, chun obair priosun a dheanamh agus a gcuid poblachtachas a threigeadh.
[The English believed that it was possible for republican prisoners to be beaten and terrorised into wearing criminal uniforms, doing prison work and abandoning their republicanism].
They were supported in this by the northern and southern political establishment. But, as was so often the case throughout the centuries the British and their local allies misjudged the tenacity and resolve of Irish republicans, and in particular of the prisoners.
The account of that period has often been told.
Of Kieran Nugent refusing to wearing the prison uniform and saying they would have to nail it to his back.
Of the hundreds of prisoners in the H Blocks – naked, beaten, starved, denied proper medical care or toilet facilities, forced frequently to run the gauntlet of riot clad screws or subjected to the brutality of the mirror search.
Of the women in Armagh – isolated and beaten and strip searched who were also denied adequate medical and toilet facilities.
Of the families who organised and campaigned through the Relatives Action Committees and then through the National Smash H-Block Campaign.
And of the tens of thousands who marched and protested in support of the prisoners.
The hunger strike changed the political landscape in Ireland.
The political gains that have been made since then owe much to the men and women political prisoners and to the sacrifice, resolve and perseverance of the hunger strikers and their families.
Bhi feachtas na bpriosunai dirithe ar 5 eileamh chun leasuithe priosuin ach i ndairire bhi an streachailt ibhfad nios doimhne na sin.
[There was a prison struggle directed towards the five demands for prison change but in reality the struggle was a lot deeper than that.]
The prison struggle, like the struggle on the outside, became a battle of will about the right of the Irish people to self-determination and independence and freedom.
The prisoners knew that. So did the Brits.
It was about uniting Ireland. That struggle continues today. And core republican objectives are at the heart of everything we do today. The Sinn Fein political strategy is about achieving these objectives.
And let there be no doubt about it. We have a viable project and we have made, are making, and we will continue to make significant progress.
30 years ago the north was embroiled in war. British troops were dug in on these hilltops; people were dying in their scores; nationalist areas were under military occupation and unionists were entrenched behind their laager mentality.
The Sinn Fein strategy brought the British and the unionists and the Irish government to the negotiating table.
Thirty years ago there was an Orange State. The Orange State is gone.
The Government of Ireland Act is gone. The right of citizens to opt for a United Ireland is equal to that of those who wish to retain the union.
Sinn Fein is from that democratic tradition which believes that the British government never had any right to be in Ireland; does not have any right to be in Ireland and never will have any right to be in Ireland.
There is now an entirely peaceful way to bring an end to British rule.
Our duty is to develop democratic ways and means to achieve and to unite behind the leadership and the campaigns which will bring this about.
Yes it will be challenging! Yes it will be frustrating! The enemies of change are strong. But that never stopped us in the past.
Remember, once upon a time Margaret Thatcher – remember Margaret Thatcher? Remember she claimed that the north was as British as Finchley! It never was.
Britain’s claim to the north is now reduced to a simple majority vote.
Of course we have a huge job of work to do to persuade unionists of the merits of the republican and democratic position. But we are also in a very good place to do this. Sinn Fein is the largest nationalist party in the Assembly and on local Councils and we hold one of the three European seats.
There are five Sinn Fein Ministers, including our leader Martin McGuinness, who as Deputy First Minister shares the Office of First and Deputy First Minister with Peter Robinson as an equal in all matters.
The DUP and UUP, who opposed power sharing, are sharing power in government.
There are all-Ireland political functioning institutions. And in all of these political institutions Sinn Fein is defending the rights and entitlements of all citizens and promoting our republican agenda for unity and equality.
I mbliana ta meadu tagtha ar ionadaiocht pholaitiuil Shinn Fein sna comhairli aitiula agus sa Tionol sa Tuaisceart.
[This year, the political representation of Sinn Fein in the local councils and in the Assembly in the North has increased.]
In the Oireachtas today, we have a Sinn Fein team of 14 TDs and 3 seanadoiri. And in constituencies across the south, especially those where we came close to winning Dail seats, Sinn Fein is growing organisationally and electorally.
In Leinster House our new Dail team is proving itself to be effective and efficient. For many we are now the real opposition party, challenging the Fine Gael and Labour government as it imposes a disastrous austerity programme and introduces new stealth taxes on working families.
The fact is that Irish republicanism is stronger today than at any time since partition. Ach chun cuir lenar neart, chun tionchar pholaitiuil agus cumhacht nios laidre caithfidh muid ar streachailt a neartu.
There is no more important time than this for the republican principles of equality, fraternity, and freedom.
Ta polasaithe polaitiula bunaithe ar na prionsabail seo de dhith go prainneach chun leas ar bpobail.
[A political policy based on these principles is urgently needed for the good of our people.]
Republicans need to build our party. More people need to join Sinn Fein.
More young people need to join Sinn Fein. We especially need more women to join Sinn Fein. To take up leadership positions.
And we need to use our growing political strength wisely and successfully and well.
Achieving our republican goals will not be easy.
While Unionist leaders now see the benefits of working on an all Ireland basis, they remain opposed to a united Ireland.
So there is work to be done peacefully and democratically with them.
Sinn Fein is up for that work.
The British government, despite its protestations to the contrary, and its systems, has yet to face up to its responsibilities to the people of this island. It can best do this by leaving us to manage our own affairs.
The Irish government, and in particular the Irish political establishment, is partitionist. That is evident in so many ways, for example, in the resistance thus far, to extending voting rights in Presidential elections to Irish citizens living in the north.
But there are many people in Ireland who want rid of outsiders ruling us whether from London or the IMF and EU. They want a free and united and independent Ireland.
I believe there are many people in Ireland who share our goals of a free and united and independent Ireland.
Tri neart pholaitiuil a thogail agus comhphairtiocht a chothu beidh muid abalta ar spriocanna amach.
[Through the building of political strength and the sustenance of partnership we will be able to attain our objectives.]
Sinn Fein is clear about our strategy, clear about our goals and clear about the road map to the future. We will not be distracted or put off course. We have a vision of a new future, a better future, and we have the spirit and the confidence to work with others to achieve this.
Raymond McCreesh agus a 9 comradai agus na poblachtaigh go leor eile a thug a mbeatha don streachailt thar na blianta, chuidigh siad linn theacht go dti an ait a bhfuil muid inniu.
[Raymond McCreesh and his nine comrades and the all the other republicans who gave their life to the struggle through the years, they helped bring us to the place we are today.]
There is an enormous responsibility on us to seize the opportunity they created and to make Irish freedom a reality. There is a role for everyone in this new situation.
Let us stand together, united behind our republican goals.
Bainimis ar saoirse amach agus togaimis Eire Aontaithe agus poblacht nua lenar linn.
There is resistance to this. There was also resistance to the blanketmen and the women in Armagh. They knew this. But they kept their eyes on the prize. They were also aware of all of the developments in the campaign and the manoeuvrings by the British and others.
They were not put off by any of this. They were steadfast in their determination. Struggle is hard. Activism can be challenging. There will always be cynics and begrudgers and naysayers.
But there will also always be heroes and heroines.
Ray McCreesh and his comrades set an example for every republican. They should be our role models. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize.
In the last entry of his diary Bobby wrote:
“…at the end of the day everything returns to the primary consideration, that is, the mind. The mind is the most important. But then where does (the) proper mentality stem from?
“Perhaps from ones desire for freedom…..
“If they aren’t able to destroy the desire for freedom, they won’t break you.
“They won’t break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people is in my heart.
“The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show.
“It’s then we’ll see the rising of the moon.”
Posted by Jim on August 9, 2011
An event to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1971 Ballymurphy massacre has heard renewed calls for an independent international inquiry.
Over a thousand people turned out on Sunday to mark the murder of 11 people by the British Army in the small west Belfast community.
British soldiers shot their victims dead over a 36-hour period that began on August 9 1971. Among those killed were a mother-of-eight and a priest.
Campaigners held a ‘march for truth’ through west Belfast on Sunday to remember the dead and repeat their call for an inquiry into the shootings, that followed the introduction of the oppressive British policy of internment without trial.
Among those to address the crowd was Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams.
Mr Adams said that while 1971 was history to some people, for others “it is part of our lives”.
“The Civil Rights campaign was only a few years old. The pogroms had occurred two years earlier. This area has opened its homes to the refugees. We were also under military occupation.
“Internment was part of a planned military and political strategy by the British government. The Paras were sent into this area to create a killing zone. None of those killed were members of any armed group.”
Mr Adams said the British Army had lied about being shot at by IRA gunmen and that people who had lost loved ones in the conflict needed closure.
“The British government know what happened. So do the Irish government.
What is needed now is an independent international investigation.”
LEGAL ACTION OVER INTERNMENT
The massacre took place followed the imposition of internment, when hundreds of nationalists were summarily imprisoned without trial during a period which began on 9 Aug 1971. Many of them were detained randomly or on false information.
Tomorrow, on the 40th anniversary of the original internment without trial, a legal action alleging torture and unlawful detention is to be taken against the British government.
On Tuesday, six former internees will serve legal writs on British Direct Ruler Owen Paterson. The writs cite newly uncovered documents on internment — internal British military and internal British military papers — which confirm the repressive intent and illegal nature of the internment policy.
Tommy Doyle was one of more than 300 interned at Long Kesh, which at that time was akin to a concentration camp.
“They put a boiler suit on me, took me to the back of the camp,” he said. “They gave me a shovel and told me to dig a hole and then get in til it.
“When I dug it, next thing the soldiers fired shots, they obviously were blank shots but they were trying to scare you.
“They put me in a helicopter, blindfolded me and threw me out.”
Joseph Curley was also thrown from a helicopter. “They put a hood over me and I lost track of where I was going, I didn’t know where I was going but the soldier was dropping the butt of his rifle on my head,” he said.
Mother of two, Evelyn Gilroy was interned at Armagh prison and described it as “psychological torture”.
“I was served with papers which I had to sign to consent to my children being put in care,” she said. “I had no access at all to my youngest baby who was nine months, with the result that when I did see her she didn’t recognise me and had no knowledge of her mother.”
Lawyer Kevin Winters described internment as “one of the single biggest human rights abuses throughout the Troubles”.
“It’s hoped and anticipated that later this year we hope to issue proceedings for damages, for false imprisonment unlawful detention and wrongful arrest.”
Posted by Jim on
On Monday August 9 1971 dawn raids at hundreds of homes across Northern Ireland signalled the beginning of internment.
Over the next days there was an upsurge in rioting and violence and an estimated 7,000 people were forced to flee their homes.
In the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast alone, 11 people – including a Catholic priest giving Last Rites to an injured civilian – lost their lives.
Internment gave authorities the power to detain people indefinitely without trial and those seized were often subjected to a catalogue of mistreatment.
Stormont ministers persuaded London to back the desperate measure as violence escalated in 1971.
Since the start of the year there had been almost 300 bombings and 320 shootings.
Police and soldiers arrested almost 350 suspected republicans in dawn raids but poor intelligence meant many had been wrongly identified and within 48 hours a third had been released.
In one case, an elderly man informed soldiers he had not been in the IRA since the War of Independence in the 1920s. Many active republicans had meanwhile fled.
‘Operation Demetrius’ proved disastrous for Stormont minister Brian Faulkner, leading to a serious rise in unrest and deaths and boosting support for the IRA.
By the end of 1971, a total of 180 people had been killed – republicans were responsible for 107 deaths, the British army for 45, loyalists for 22 and the RUC for one.
However, internment would remain in place until 1975, by which time almost 1,900 people would be detained.
••••••••••
Briege Voyle was just 14 when her mother Joan Connolly was shot dead by the British army during the violence that followed the introduction of internment in 1971.
She left behind eight children, the youngest of whom was just three years old, when she was shot in the head, shoulders and thigh by soldiers near the Springfield Road in west Belfast.
The 45-year-old, who lived on Ballymurphy Road, had gone out to look for two of her daughters on the evening of August 9.
The killing devastated her husband and children, who had been separated after being taken to safety at a refugee camp in the Republic.
Her husband later suffered a nervous breakdown, having never got over the loss of his wife.
Now a mother-of-four and grandmother herself, Briege recalls the pain of losing her mother in such tragic circumstances and the disgust her family felt at being awarded just £250 in compensation.
“The British soldiers had come in at around 4am and arrested people,” she said.
“Women were out on the streets with their bin lids.
“My mother had come out to look for some of us as there was a curfew.
“Me and my younger sister Joan were watching young ones throwing stones from beside the Henry Taggart barracks on the Springfield Road. The Protestants had come in and were attacking homes.
“Mum said to us to come home and just then the Protestants surged down Springfield Park.”
Joan and her daughters became separated after soldiers fired gas into the crowd.
She did not know that the girls had headed for home when she walked towards Springfield Park to look for them.
“It was then that the soldiers opened fire,” Briege said.
“My mum then saw this young man, Noel Phillips, crawling along the ground.
“He had been shot in the backside.
“As she went to help him, she was shot in the head.
“She was heard to shout ‘I’m blind and I can’t see’.
“She was then shot in the shoulder and the bullet travelled down her arm and out her hand. She was also shot in the thigh.”
When their mother did not return home, Briege recalls her father Denis frantically phoning community centres and hospitals looking for his red-haired wife.
“A nurse told him that there was one woman with red hair but she was in the morgue,” she said.
“A neighbour went with him to identify my mother.
“When he came back to the house, he was literally carried in and we were all roaring and crying.
“About half-an-hour later, a car arrived and me and four of my sisters were taken to a refugee camp in Cork and then to Waterford.
“We were there a few days when one day we were all gathered around the television and we saw a report saying our mother had been buried.
“We all started crying. What else could we do?”
The children were subsequently split up and taken to live with relatives of their father in the Republic.
Gradually, they arrived back home in Belfast over the autumn and winter.
Briege said life was “unbelievable”.
“Daddy had gone to pieces. He became very protective,” she said.
“After Bloody Sunday, he took a nervous breakdown and spent six weeks receiving treatment.
“It was the worst two years of my life. There was no help from anyone. Half the time you didn’t even get dinner.
“It was devastating. There are no words to describe it.”
••••••••••
A similar grief was suffered by the Laverty family. John Laverty (20) was last seen alive by his loved ones in the early hours of August 11 1971.
The young council worker had set out from the family home in Whitecliff Parade in Ballymurphy that morning, followed soon afterwards by his brother Terry.
John was in Dermott Hill when he was shot in the back and then the thigh by British soldiers.
Terry, who was 18, heard the gunfire as he walked in another direction but did not know it was his brother who had been killed.
Minutes later Terry found himself in trouble near Ballymurphy and was surrounded by British soldiers who marched him towards St Aidan’s Primary school at the top of the Whiterock Road.
He said he was made to lie on the ground and his socks and shoes were removed.
At one stage a gun was held to his head and the trigger pulled, though Terry did not know its magazine was empty.
As this happened, the teenage barman who worked at McEnaney’s on the Glen Road said a prayer for his older brother John in the hope that he was safe.
He was then made to walk barefoot across glass before being chained to washerettes at Dermott Hill.
This was the start of a 56-hour nightmare for the young man, who was taken to Girdwood Barracks.
Thomas and Mary Laverty – having been told that their son John was dead – believed they had lost both sons, as Terry was also missing.
Terry first heard of his brother’s death from his father when he was released from Townsend Street police station three days later.
Thirty-six years on, Carmel Quinn remembers how the loss of her brother and the treatment of Terry devastated her family.
“It was desperate. I will never experience a Christmas like that again,” she said.
“Terry was jailed for six months for riotous behaviour over Christmas, so both brothers were missing.
“My mummy and daddy were just heartbroken.”
Terry said he still also finds it hard to talk about what he experienced behind the high walls of Girdwood.
“We had to sit for 16 or 18 hours facing the wall with our hands on our knees,” he said.
“If you turned left or right you got smacked.
“They would force you to do press-ups in the urinals. It was degrading.”
His sister Rita Bonner said the family were “still finding out different bits and pieces” about what happened to the brothers and until they found out the truth about John’s death, they could never have closure.
“You learn to live with it and get on with life but it’s always there,” she said.
“My mum said to us to ‘always tell the world that John was not a gunman’.
“She never had a bitter bone in her body.
“In 1972 a soldier was shot at the bottom of our street and my mummy went down and held him and put her cardigan under his head and said an Act of Contrition.
“She said she did it because he was somebody’s son.”
•••••••••••
Joseph Corr’s family also still live with the pain of their loss every day. His death left behind a devastated wife and seven heartbroken children, unable to comprehend what had happened to their loved one.
Joseph was also shot by British soldiers on the morning of August 11.
The 43-year-old – who worked as a craft engineer for Shorts – had gone out with his eldest son Joe (21) in the early hours to see what was happening in the area.
The father and son from Divismore Crescent in Ballymurphy had been walking towards Dermott Hill at around 3am when shooting broke out and the pair became separated.
Joe, now 57 and a father-of-four and grandfather, said there was panic on the streets.
“All of a sudden there was shooting coming from paratroopers who were coming down the Pound Loney from the mountains,” he said.
“We thought it was plastic bullets at first but it was live rounds because some of them bounced off metal rails.
“There was a wee fella who had been shot in the arm so I lifted him and carried him up to the top of the Whiterock.”
When the shooting ceased, Joe could not find his father and returned to the house, where the family made desperate attempts to trace him.
“We phoned every hospital in Ireland,” Joe said.
“Dad was found 14 hours later in the military wing of Musgrave Park Hospital by a family friend.
“We don’t know why he was there. They must have thought he was a soldier.
“He was later flown to the Royal Victoria Hospital but during the flight, his liver haemorrhaged.
“Then one day, me and my mum had just left him in the hospital and came home when my uncle came and told us we had to go back down.
“We had no telephone then but when we got to the hospital, we were too late, he had died.”
Joe said his mother never recovered from the loss of her husband.
“Her youngest child was just four months old at the time. It devastated the family,” he said.
“After my dad was killed a letter was delivered to our home which was addressed to my mother.
“It said ‘May your sub-human husband and his pals roast in hell’. All we want to know is the truth.”
Posted by Jim on July 30, 2011
The Life Sentence Review Commission has refused release of critically ill republican prisoner Brendan Lillis on compassionate grounds as a growing human rights campaign continues to demand his release.
The reason given by the commissioners was that he was “a danger to the public”. Mr Lillis was told he would have to serve the rest of his original life sentence at HMP Maghaberry.
The decision shocked his partner and supporters, who bravely staged a four-day hunger protest in Belfast and Derry in an attempt to secure his release. Mr Lillis himself is reported to have experienced a further decline in his health since Tuesday’s announcement.
Sinn Fein has said the decision was “wrong” and have urged Six-County ‘Justice Minister’ David Ford to act.
As a former IRA political prisoner, Mr Lillis had his release licence revoked two year ago. Charges against him were dropped after he was considered to ill to face trial. Despite the progressive deterioration in his illness, a chronic disease of the musculo-skeletal system, the commission found no room for compassion for the prisoner. Eating only with the help of a stomach tube, Mr Lillis is now facing a lonely death inside the notorious jail’s hospital wing.
Sinn Fein’s Jennifer McCann has reiterated her call for Mr Lillis’s release on “humanitarian grounds”.
“This man is seriously ill, too ill indeed to stand trial. How can someone be a danger to the public when they are unfit to attend a court?”, she asked.
The commission is due to discuss Mr Lillis’s medical condition, but Ms McCann said it was feared this would not be until late August. His partner, Roisin Lynch, fears her emaciated and suffering partner may not live long enough to know the result.
Sinn Fein’s MP for West Belfast, Paul Maskey, said the Six-County Justice Minister had stated that he was “awaiting legal advice” on this case.
“This advice needs to come as a matter of urgency,” he said.
“Brendan Lillis is currently critically ill, to ill to stand trial. He is currently 5stone 5lbs in weight and while this legal advice is awaited his health could deteriorate further.
“The continued imprisonment of Brendan Lillis does not serve the public interest and he should be released now on humanitarian grounds.”
Republicans staged a 72 hour fast at Free Derry Corner in Derry and and in the heart of Andersonstown in west Belfast in support of the campaign to have the terminally ill prisoner released.
Tents were pitched in west Belfast on Thursday evening and the protesters remained there until Monday morning.
Although a range of republican and nationalist organisations have supported the campaign, Mr Lillis and his campaign have been portrayed in the media as ‘dissident’. That label which has been rejected by the campaign, which has focussed on the human rights of a dying man subjected to a cruel British internment.
A spokesperson for the campaign said it was ironic that the situation at Maghaberry had arisen on the 30th anniversary of 1981, when ten republican prisoners died on hunger strike in Long Kesh.
“British intransigence in 1981 meant 10 men starving themselves to death for better conditions for Irish Republicans in British gaols.
“Thirty years on an Irish man who hasn’t a choice finds himself being effectively starved to death by the British government’s apathy towards anyone who could be construed as an Irish Republican.”
The family of Bobby Sands, who died on hunger strike in 1981, added their voices to calls for Mr Lillis’s release.
“Brendan Lillis is dying in Maghaberry Prison because of the same refusal of government authorities to govern with humanity, compassion, respect for human dignity and in compliance with International Human Rights standards and obligations,” they said.
“The 1998 Agreement promised a Human Rights framework and Bill of Rights to ensure people here would never again be deemed ineligible for protection of their rights because of their politics or actions.”
Republican activists of different parties and organisations united in Dublin today to hold a protest. They held placards and distribute leaflets to those entering and leaving the offices of the ‘Northern Ireland’ Tourist Board on Suffolk Street.
Further protests are due to take place in Dublin daily, while other protests are also due to take place in London, Scotland and Italy on Mr Lillis’s behalf.
Further information and links are available through http://freebrendanlillis.weebly.com