>> one, devoid of party politics. >> >> I ask the citizens of Derry to reflect on the contrast between >> the sectarian and divisive attitude adopted by the DUP toward my >> election and the reasoned attitude of the republican/nationalist >> politicians and electorate to the sectarian approach of the >> unionist parties in Belfast in electing the DUP's Sammy Wilson as >> mayor of that city. >> >> Republicans and nationalists in Belfast did not call for a >> boycott of Sammy Wilson or for him to be treated in a >> discriminatory manner. >> >> That said, I have no intention of allowing the negativity of the >> DUP to deflect me from performing my duties as mayor on behalf of >> all of the citizens of Derry to the best of my ability. >> >> I have many objectives that I would like to achieve during my >> term of office. I will attempt to bring about a system of local >> government that is open, transparent and democratically >> accountable. >> >> I am determined to ensure that the community plays an integral >> part in the life of the city and the decision-making process. I >> will ensure that my door is open to every individual who feel >> that they have a contribution to make. >> >> Derry city and the North West region in general has suffered >> decades of institutionalised neglect and marginalisation >> resulting in stagnation of the economy and the disappearance of >> traditional industries, such as textiles, on which the community >> depended. >> >> I will set as a key objective during my term of office, the >> creation of a radical economic regional strategy. This will be >> done in tandem with a coherent education programme that will >> attract sustainable employment, is worker friendly and will >> remove the over-dependence on multinational capital by >> encouraging the growth and development of indigenous industry. >> >> As an Irish republican, I am acutely aware of the consequences of >> exclusion and intolerance and it is my intention to ensure that >> such practices no longer feature in the civic life of this city >> in any form. I will work for the inclusion of all citizens >> regardless of political, religious, cultural or sexual >> persuasion. >> >> I do not expect that everyone in this city will feel comfortable >> with my political philosophy. But I will not shirk my >> responsibility to be open and accessible to anyone who wishes to >> approach me or discuss with me any concerns that they may have. >> >> In the same spirit, I expect that those who do not share my >> politics will give me a fair wind and judge me on the performance >> of my duties and not on my politics. >> >> I intend to make my year in office one of substance: A year in >> which the potential of the peace process is translated into >> meaningful change that will transform the political, economic, >> social and cultural life of Derry. >> >> I will not be found wanting when it comes to serving all of the >> citizens of this city and I look forward to the challenges that >> the next 12 months will present. >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> >> >>>>>> McBride family highlights British Army 'hypocrisy' >> >> THE mother of murdered Belfast teenager Peter McBride has called >> the British army "hypocrites" following reports that soldiers are >> to be dismissed for failing drug tests. >> >> According to reports in Scottish newspapers, eight members of the >> Royal Scots Guards are set to be discharged this week for failing >> drug tests. >> >> The news comes as the army continues to deliberate on the future >> of Scots Guards Mark Wright and James Fisher, convicted in 1995 >> of murdering Mr McBride. >> >> "What a bunch of hypocrites to claim that taking drugs brings >> shame on the British army while shooting an innocent teenager in >> the back does not," Jean McBride said. >> >> "These tests were carried out in April. Just two months later and >> the men are to be dismissed; Wright and Fisher were convicted in >> 1995 and my family is still fighting." >> >> It has also emerged that 11 soldiers from the Black Watch regiment >> face dismissal after testing positive for drugs. >> >> Senior army sources have accused the men testing positive of >> "tarnishing the name of the battalion", while a spokesman said >> the army had a "zero tolerance drugs policy." >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> >> >>>>>> Sinn Fein excluded by SDLP's 'cosy arrangement' >> >> >> The SDLP has once again done a deal with the Ulster Unionists to >> exclude Sinn Fein from the top posts in Armagh district council. >> >> Previously, Ulster Unionist Jim Clayton was elected mayor and >> SDLP representative Joe McGleenan took the deputy mayor's seat. >> >> Sinn Fein councillor Noel Sheridan said the over the four years >> of the council, the UUP and SDLP have shared the positions of >> mayor and deputy mayor between them. >> >> "Sinn Fein with 13.6 per cent of council seats has been denied >> either position. The SDLP has not supported our demand for >> proportionality," he said. >> >> The Sinn Fein councillor pointed out that the SDLP has also voted >> to exclude Republicans from a number of committees. >> >> "The SDLP on Armagh district council operates a cosy arrangement >> with unionism to share the spoils of office," he said. >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> >> >>>>>> Death of May Kavanagh >> >> There's a photograph on the front cover of a pamphlet about Irish >> POWs of May Kavanagh standing outside the front door of her home >> in Crocus Street, West Belfast. She is carrying a small holdall >> bag and the caption tells us she is setting off to visit her son >> in jail in England. May stands before the camera, a neat, white >> haired and bespecticled grandmother, a determined and resolute >> republican. >> >> It was with great sadness that Belfast republicans learnt of the >> death of May Kavanagh after a short illness last month. As a >> founding executive member of Green Cross and its forerunner, the >> Prisoners Dependents Fund Committee, May worked tirelessly on >> behalf of Irish republican prisoners and their families for many >> years. >> >> May will not only be remembered for her dedication to others but >> also her fortitude in facing hardship and tragedy.within her own >> family. A mother of nine, May's home life was constantly >> disrupted by RUC and British Army raids. >> >> In the early 1970s May's 18-year-old son Albert, an IRA >> Volunteer, was killed by the RUC in disputed circumstances. >> Shortly after Albert's death, another son, Paul, was sentenced to >> seven years imprisonment in Long Kesh It was the beginning a >> lifetime of prison visiting for May. >> >> In the early 1980s, Paul Kavanagh was captured with Tommy Quigley >> and sentenced to 35 years imprisonment in England. The ordeal >> endured by Irish families travelling to visit POWs incarcerated >> in jails in England is well documented but it never deterred May >> Kavanagh. In 1989, after Paul married Martina Anderson, another >> republican POW jailed in England, May often journeyed to Durham >> also. >> >> Long and hardous journeys to jails in England often ended in >> frustration with a prisoner being moved to another jail. But >> petty harassment couldn't undermine May's resolve and she became >> active in the campaign for the transfer of Irish political >> prisoners to jails closer to their homes. >> >> After a lifetime of campaigning, May did live see her son, >> daughter-in-law and other Irish POWs return home. In 1999, Paul >> Kavanagh was released under the terms of the Good Friday >> Agreement, allowing May a few precious months with her son before >> she died. >> >> May was a strong and resourceful woman. With kindness and a ready >> sense of humour, she faced many hardships with courage and >> determination. She will be sadly missed by all her friends. >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> >> >>>>>> Feature: Celtic's image wars >> >> BY MICK DERRIG >> >> I've never been into TV soaps. I never pondered why I've remained >> immune, despite the widespread addiction among seemingly sound >> people. I've discovered solid comrades who have been secretly >> living in Brookside and on Deep Space Nine for years. It's at >> time like that you realise you are a little different to your >> fellow humans - it's actually a nice feeling. >> >> Well that was what I thought about me and soap operas until the >> most recent twist in the fortunes of the Love Of My Life - >> Glasgow Celtic. >> >> For all of these years I didn't need to know if Sinbad had got >> his window money or that the Gamma Quadrant was invaded by hordes >> of dysfunctional table jellies. Now I know why. I wasn't immune >> from the soap opera addiction after all. I've had Celtic - the >> biggest soap opera in Irish sport. I was deluded by the official >> fiction that this is a soccer club, owned by a Plc, of which >> Derrig is a minor, yet vital, shareholder. But no, its' a feckin' >> soap for all who harbour a rebel heart. >> >> The latest episode has just got under way. After enduring a >> season where a laid back aristo from the Caribbean and his >> monosyllabic Jock mentor served us up a bunch of, well, >> dysfunctional table jellies. After the Omnibus Season From Hell, >> Celtic's coming home. We've got one of our own about the place >> and he's a class operator from South Derry. Kilrea man Martin >> O'Neill is the club's new manager at. He insisted on the >> old-fashioned title, not "Head Coach" or "Director of Football >> Operations" or any other rubbis. >> >> He's the gaffer, Numero Uno, The Big Cheese. He's the Guy Who >> Stops The Buck. He's now Patriarch of the Clan of Green. >> >> There is a subcurrent at Celtic at corporate box level that is >> reminiscent of Fianna Fail. Totally corrupt, sloshing around in >> sleaze, but it's in their relationship to the culture of their >> bedrock support that the analogy is most illuminating. >> >> The corporate clones at Parkhead see the massive marketing >> potential of Celtic as the Global Gaeltacht's soccer team. From >> being the game of the European and Latin American working classes >> 50 years ago, soccer is now THE global game. No other sport comes >> close. The world cup final is the most watched sports event in >> human history. The global game is an integral part of the global >> economy, and that economy is driven by marketing. >> >> The marketing men have an eye on Celtic's Irishness, but it will >> be sanitised and airbrushed of the working class reality of my >> community - the community that built and sustained the club for >> over a century. There has been a revisionism at work at Celtic in >> the last decade that would make the History department at UCD >> look like a meeting of a republican Think Tank. >> >> Firstly, Fergus McCann sought to strip Celtic of any outward >> vestiges of its ethnicity. He stated baldly that Celtic was a >> Scottish club. The season that Celtic rented Hampden Park, the >> Irish Tricolour was banned from Scotland's national stadium. >> >> McCann had no problem with this and said that he wouldnt miss the >> flag if it didn't fly over the newly-built Celtic Park the >> following season. This was stated to appease the hostile host >> community and to distance the club from the republican subculture >> that gives the club its bedrock support. It was also a cynical >> observation that the buses would still be leaving Donegal every >> Saturday morning come what may. >> >> McCann, ironically a North American businessman, didn't see the >> marketing potential of the Celtic brand in Irish America. Dermot >> Desmond does. In all of this, Dermot Desmond remained silent, >> having weighed in with #3 million at the time of McCann's >> takeover. Perhaps he was otherwise engaged in other commercial >> activities - currently appearing at Flood and Moriarty. >> >> Now, however, Desmond is very much in charge. It was his power on >> the board that got Martin ONeill placed as the new man in charge. >> He blocked everyone else's choice - former Dutch national coach >> Guus Hiddink. Desmond wants the Irish identity of the club >> rescued, but what kind of Irish identity? >> >> The Irish identity that Celtic gave me was a working class >> republican one. This does not sit well with the Mohair man. Not >> only would he be uncomfortable with the Celtic support's >> celebration of struggle against British rule, but even more now >> with the developing republican labour class politics being >> advanced by Sinn Fein. >> >> So there is a battle for the DNA of Celtic's Irishness. >> >> When Martin O'Neill came out to greet the fans as the new >> manager, he was thrown a Celtic scarf from the crowd. He >> instinctively picked it up and held it aloft as he had done >> himself on the old terraces during the glory years under Jock >> Stein. The scarf not only said Celtic, but also had the lines >> from a republican ballad about it being 'Slan Abhaile' time for >> the British Army in Ireland. O'Neill's Plc media minder saw the >> negative PR implications and quickly supplied O'Neill with a nice >> sanitised Celtic scarf. >> >> In that one vignette is the script for the next episode of my own >> soap opera. Celtic, if they are to compete in the big boys' >> league, will have to go global. That means utilising their unique >> selling proposition within the world's rapidly expanding soccer >> market. Celtic's marketing gameplan can only be Ireland and >> Irishness. >> >> The corporate suits will want to do that, while hoovering out >> anything that smacks of the real Irish ancestry of Celtic - the >> real culture of the club is Irish republicanism and the struggle >> of a working class Irish community in Glasgow to make sense of >> itself. It used a soccer club to preserve its dignity as a human >> community in the face of systematic discrimination. That >> discrimination hasn't gone away, you know. >> >> Desmond's vision is for a Bord Failte Celtic as a vehicle for >> selling third world merchandise to Irish Americans who wouldnt >> know a wing back from a corner flag. His marketing people must do >> that while making sure that they do not, finally, turn off the >> most loyal fans in the world, those who leave Dublin, Letterkenny >> and New Lodge Road every Saturday morning en route to Scotland. >> >> That will be a difficult balancing act. >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> >> >>>>>> Analysis: The marching issue needs an honest approach >> >> >> From the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community >> >> >> >> The last time the Apprentice Boys marched along the Lower Ormeau >> Road, the RUC used batons, boots and Land Rovers to clear >> residents off the road to make way for the parade. The time >> before that, similar violence was used, with the addition of >> plastic bullets. >> >> On that occasion, in August 1995, one of the Apprentice Boys >> mimicked the action of firing a machine gun as he passed Sean >> Graham's bookmakers. >> >> The last time the Orange Order marched along the Lower Ormeau >> Road, it did so in the immediate aftermath of the murder of the >> Quinn children. Many people were disgusted that the Orange Order >> had refused to call off its parade as a mark of respect for the >> three children. >> >> Given this type of background to marches in the area, it is not >> surprising that local residents continue to call for the >> rerouting of parades away from the area. The loyal orders remain >> equally adamant that they have an absolute right to march along >> the Lower Ormeau Road and will not accept anything less. >> >> Clearly, where parades are steeped in such controversy and where >> marchers and residents have such diametrically opposite views on >> the parades, establishing any kind of mutual understanding or >> agreement becomes very difficult. >> >> Nevertheless Lower Ormeau Concerned Community has, since 1992, >> committed itself to trying to resolve this issue through dialogue >> with the loyal orders. >> >> For years we were rebuffed by the loyal orders but in 1999 the >> Apprentice Boys agreed to a series of meetings which lasted until >> the beginning of this year. >> >> LOCC welcomes and encourages all forms of dialogue, but it is >> important to understand that dialogue is not an end in itself. >> Parades, not the absence of dialogue, are the problem. >> >> Dialogue is an essential ingredient if we are to resolve the >> problems caused by parades, but underpinning that dialogue there >> must be a genuine willingness to address the root causes of the >> problems. >> >> That willingness to genuinely address the issues was sadly >> lacking in the Apprentice Boys during the course of our dialogue. >> Some flavour of their attitude can be found in Tommy Cheevers's >> recent article in this paper. >> >> LOCC is "hate-filled" for opposing the parades, according to the >> Apprentice Boys. >> >> The Apprentice Boys entered into the talks, we are told, to put >> Sinn Fein to the test over its attitudes to parading. >> >> There is no mention at all of the vast majority of local >> residents whose lives are not ruled by hate, who are not >> interested in party political positions on marching but who >> merely want to live their lives free from sectarian harassment >> and provocation which have been an integral feature of parades >> over far too many years. >> >> Of course there is no mention of these people, because to >> acknowledge their existence would mean the Apprentice Boys >> acknowledging that there is a genuine problem which must be >> resolved. Better to stick to the tried and tested formula of >> Harold Gracey, David Jones and others - there is nothing wrong >> with our parades, if only Sinn Fein would stop intimidating the >> Catholics who would then come out and enjoy the parades as they >> used to in the "good old days". >> >> Hey presto! No problem to discuss because there is no problem. >> >> This approach to dialogue adopted by the Apprentice Boys caused >> considerable frustration for LOCC but it rebounded on the >> Apprentice Boys at Easter when the Parades Commission publicly >> criticised them for treating dialogue as an exercise in >> "box-ticking", that is, going through the motions without any >> serious intent. >> >> Lower Ormeau Concerned Community is now trying to construct a >> genuine process of dialogue, based on internationally recognised >> models and practices. We hope the Apprentice Boys will come to >> any new process with a constructive attitude and a genuine >> willingness to resolve the problems caused by parades. >> >> But they need to take on board a few painful home truths if we >> are to move forward. >> >> Firstly, there is a genuine problem with parades by the loyal >> orders in all areas like the Lower Ormeau Road. That is why, in >> the last survey carried out by Coopers & Lybrand, 94 per cent of >> residents called for the parades to be re-routed. During our >> dialogue with the Apprentice Boys they actually admitted that >> equivalent parades by nationalists would not be tolerated in >> unionist/loyalist areas. If they could only put themselves in our >> shoes then they must surely see what their parades mean to us. >> >> Secondly, there is no point in the Apprentice Boys trying to >> limit discussions to mere issues of the conduct and styles of >> parades. >> >> We need to create a shared understanding of what parades are >> about and then we must work within that shared understanding to >> try to develop areas of potential agreement. >> >> It would be wrong to believe that a parade where some kind of lid >> has been pressed down on the worst sectarian excesses represents >> the only - or indeed a likely - area of potential agreement. >> >> There is something fundamentally wrong with a parade when those >> taking part in the parade have to be ordered not to abuse >> Catholic residents, and when bands taking part have to be >> instructed not to play blood-curdling, sectarian tunes in front >> of those residents. >> >> These behaviours are bound to re-emerge if we do not address all >> of the issues around parading. In particular, we believe we need >> to explore creative and alternative forms of expression which do >> not carry the sectarian baggage inevitably associated with >> parades. >> >> Finally, the Apprentice Boys need to get off their ridiculous >> "cultural apartheid" soapbox and recognise that the apartheid >> exists within their organisations, not without. >> >> In her excellent book Northern Protestants, Susan McKay recounts >> a conversation with the governor of the Apprentice Boys when he >> explains why they failed to secure IFI funding. "The organisation >> had to be cross-community, and we couldn't have a Catholic on our >> committee." >> >> By the same token, there will be no Catholics on parade with the >> Apprentice Boys on the Ormeau Road, in Derry or anywhere else >> next August. >> >> If the Apprentice Boys wish to break free from the self-imposed >> isolation which their sectarian ethos and history have created, >> we are happy to work with them. >> >> But there needs to be a genuine intention on their part - sadly >> lacking until now - to address all of the issues around parades >> in an honest and constructive way. >> >> >> >> >> >> c. RM Distribution and others. 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