(Forwarded) IRISH REPUBLICAN PRISONERS WELFARE ASSOCIATION 18th August 2000 The following speech was given by Martin Galvin, Guest Speaker at a Function in aid of the IRPWA in Belfast Tonight "A Chairde, "It is important to begin by commending and congratulating each of you who have come tonight to support Irish Republican prisoners, many of whom are from Belfast, by giving financial help to their wives and children. "Many things have occurred which only 5 years ago I would have thought impossible, incredible or inconceivable. "High on that list would be the thought that it might be necessary in Belfast of all places in Ireland to congratulate people for merely supporting the families of Republican political prisoners. "Because especially in Belfast it was always so customary, so commonplace and so obligatory to stand behind Republican prisoners; that rather than commending those who did what was routinely expected, you would think in terms of what was wrong or lacking in those who would not help the families of Republican prisoners. "Tonight is obviously different, in large measure because the nature and purpose of this event has been so deliberately misrepresented. I have heard that there were calls for me to be banned by the British government, something that was last tried by British secretary James Prior without much success. The Irish News actually published a story that the event was cancelled, and an editorial applauding the cancellation. There has been an orchestrated campaign to vilify and intimidate people. If that campaign had succeeded, if this event were cancelled, the real victims would be the wives and children of Irish political prisoners, and the Republican prisoners themselves, whether in Maghaberry, England or Portlaoise. That is something which will never be allowed to happen. "Let me say something which the British should long ago have recognised, that journalists should know, and that members of the wider Republican family should have instinctively understood. Republicans will not be broken in their support for Republican political prisoners, by anything the British can do, by any campaign of lies and misrepresentation orchestrated in the media, or by threats from any quarter. "We will never stop backing the families of Republican political prisoners, just as we will never cease in our opposition to British rule, nor in working to build a credible Republican alternative which will succeed in freeing all Republican political prisoners by ending British rule. "If anyone doubts that, let me note that just as we go forward tonight in Belfast, there are two more such events next week in Dublin and Dundalk. "Well might the British and those who have joined a British Stormont Administration worry, because the very existence of a growing number of Republican political prisoners fighting a renewed British policy of criminalisation belies any claim that British rule is truly changed or is a stepping-stone or transition to anything but a re-modelled form of British rule in which Republicans are to be, in David Trimble's terms, 'house-trained'. "A few weeks ago, we watched the release amid celebrations of most of the remaining political prisoners in Long Kesh. There was jubilation. "We as Republicans welcomed their release even though we oppose the Stormont Deal terms. There is something gratifying in seeing Republicans - who struggled against British rule, were captured and jailed - walking free of British prisons. It also signifies that whatever the British have said, or say now, they will negotiate the release of prisoners now and will ultimately be prepared to release all Irish political prisoners as part of a final settlement ending British rule. "However, as I watched the coverage, I was struck with a terrible sense of foreboding, doubt and deja-vu, and sad sense that we were seeing an old British strategy of criminalisation being re-worked in Maghaberry. "A quarter century ago, the British phased out internment and Republicans celebrated. We naively hoped, and for a time believed, that it was a move towards justice. No more internment without trial, the British said, which was synonymous with torture, with British raids and injustice. No more Long Kesh, only the Maze, they claimed. "Instead the British were just dealing in a propaganda strategy. Instead the British give us the H-Blocks and a nonsensical claim that those who struggled against British rule before an arbitrary date of March 1, 1976, were political prisoners; but, the late Kier�n Nugent and those who opposed British rule after that day would be mere criminals. "Instead the British forced the blanket-protest and ultimately two hunger strikes upon Republican political prisoners' in a failed attempt to portray the Irish struggle against British rule as a crime. "Republicans resisted and defeated criminalisation at great cost and sacrifice, because the world recognised that criminals do not die such deaths for the freedom of their countries, only patriots do. "It should be noted that criminalisation was also defeated in England and Portlaoise but only by hunger strike. "Today in Maghaberry, the British are trying once again this failed policy of criminalisation hoping that as part of the Stormont Deal, they can succeed. "In Maghaberry, Republican political prisoners are locked up 23 hours per day. Republicans are deliberately divided and allocated cells surrounded by loyalists. They have been assaulted, scalded with boiling water, threatened, and had family members threatened during visits, all in an attempt to break their resistance to criminalisation. Their remission is taken in an effort to make them accept prison work. It may be Maghaberry instead of Long Kesh, or as the British tried to re-name it 'The Maze'. The arbitrary date is no longer March 1976, but April 1998. The same Diplock courts and judges sentence them. Criminalisation, which has been defeated before, is being resisted now and will be defeated again. "However, today Sinn F�in is party to a British Stormont administration which is seeking to criminalise Irish Republican prisoners. Sinn F�in is a party many of whose members fought for, in some cases received or became politically prominent around the issue of political status. How long will Sinn F�in remain party to a British Stormont administration which tries to criminalise Republican political prisoners? How long will the Republican grassroots, who understand, and feel this issue so deeply, allow them to do so? "We want the issue of political status and segregation to be resolved for Republican prisoners at Maghaberry, and indeed for all Republican prisoners. We call upon the British and all parties to Stormont, to resolve this issue, if not as a matter of Irish justice, then pragmatically because a crisis around this issue will hold severe political consequences for the Stormont Deal and all parties to that deal. "Of course Sinn F�in may dismiss these Republicans or call for them to cease opposition to British rule. They may say the Republican political prisoners are now 'enemies of the peace process', much like Gerry Fitt, or former IRA member turned Stormont minister Paddy Devlin, used to shout 'enemies of the peace'. Those words have never dissuaded Republicans from opposing British rule and ultimately lost those who uttered them, trust and respectability in Republican areas. We hope this not the real transition which will be produced by the Stormont Deal." RE-NAMED RUC "If the issue of political status is resolved, what next? What of the RUC? Today there is an ongoing debate over the Mandelson legislation. The SDLP and Sinn F�in seem in competition either in Washington or in Westminster to get closer to Patten. "This debate is a sham, a distraction and a diversion. Even if the Patten report were adopted word for word, we will still see the same RUC members who are guilty of shoot-to-kill, or collusion with loyalist assassins, who used torture and perjury to jail Republicans, these same RUC members will be patrolling nationalist areas. The fact that 'police' is painted on the side of the Landrover, or they may even wear American baseball caps, or the RUC will be re-named or re-jigged will mean little to nationalist victims. No one in Belfast needs to be reminded of what having the very same RUC members will mean. So long as the re-named or re-jigged RUC is enforcing the title deed of British rule in Ireland, it will never be acceptable to Republicans. "How long will Sinn F�in remain party to a British Stormont administration which unleashes a re-named or re-jigged RUC on Republicans? How long will Republican grassroots allow them to do so? "Will we continue to see Sinn F�in members stand in front of RUC barracks which come under Republican attack and condemn Republicans? Are we not entitled to conclude that this is part of the 'house-training' David Trimble demanded? "There are a few examples of what British rule is like and what being party to a British administration will entail. But that is hardly necessary to explain British rule in Belfast. The Republican political prisoners who reject the Stormont deal want peace. They certainly want to be with their wives and families and they believe in Ireland's future. They do that so much so that they are prepared to sacrifice for it. "They of course believe in the right of the Irish people to national freedom and sovereignty. This is not an idea that people held 80 years ago, but goes back much further historically, as a principle that Irish men and women have died for, and are imprisoned for as we speak, and is an idea that will help shape Ireland's ultimate future. "They recognise sadly that the Stormont Deal was never anything more than a British strategy to prolong British rule by enticing former opponents into joining a British administration with a unionist veto, on any movement towards real justice or equality much less a united Ireland. "They recognise that the Stormont Deal is not the way to a united Ireland, and have shown by their actions that they will never, never accept British rule in Ireland no matter who has signed on to the Stormont Deal. "I believe that they have analysed rightly. I believe that there is growing recognition that the Stormont Deal was never the way to a united Ireland and the problem that Sinn F�in has is that the Republican political analysis, which they believed in until they abandoned it, is correct. "British rule is irreformable. Those who join with a British administration, whether it be the SDLP or Sinn F�in, will ultimately be party to the sectarian system and injustices which have brought suffering and conflict to Ireland. "They will ultimately be driven to make a choice between coming back to Republican principles or else staying at Stormont and losing all trust and credibility. "Meanwhile, growing numbers of Republicans will see that the mantel of Irish republicanism will not wear inside a British Stormont administration and choose to help build a credible Republican alternative. Well might the British worry. "Tonight I am proud to be with you and stand behind the Republican political prisoners, whether they be in Maghaberry, Portlaoise or England. "We recognise why they are imprisoned. We will support them and their families for as long as it takes. We will continue to support Republican prisoners until the final releases of all Republican Prisoners as part of the final end of British rule in Ireland." Copyright � 2000 32 County Sovereignty Movement Copyright � 2000 Ireland's OWN --------------------------------------------------------------------<e|- --------------------------------------------------------------------|e>-
