From: "Stasi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2001 23:57:47 +0100
To: "Peoples War" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Peoples War] Sinn Fein: Republican News 24-27 August 2001
IRISH NEWS ROUND-UP
http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
Friday-Monday, 24-27 August, 2001
1. LOYALISTS ATTEMPT MASSACRE
2. British government have 'sat on their hands' - SF
3. Fears mount for Colombia three
4. British govt accused of undermining inquiry
5. 'Drugs cocktail' claims three lives in West Belfast
6. Loyalists walk out of talks on school blockade
7. Tallaght builders oppose black market
8. Australian leaders urge progress
9. Feature: Disgraceful Nigerian deportation deal
10. Analysis: Another kind of black hole
-------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> LOYALISTS ATTEMPT MASSACRE
A loyalist car bomb, placed this morning in the middle of a busy
fair in Ballycastle, County Antrim, is just the latest attempt by
at mass murder of innocents.
Following a spate of bombings, abductions and attempted
assassinations last week, pressure is mounting on British
Secretary of State John Reid to act against the loyalist murder
gangs.
The car bomb attack took place on the second day of the Oul'
Lammas Fair -- one of the North's biggest tourist events -- and
could have killed any number of the 20,000 fair-goers.
An RUC spokesman said the loyalist gang who planted the bomb
wanted "a return to the bloodshed of the past 30 years. It was
madness putting a bomb in such a crowded area. It is hard to
believe".
The streets of the seaside town were crowded with tourists when
the alarm was raised this morning. A device, comprising two gas
cylinders, a detonator and a timer was found. It was set to go
off until it was uncovered at about 10 am.
A Belfast newsroom received a telephone call shortly afterwards
about the device, which was eventually defused.
The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name for the UDA (Ulster Defence
Association) has claimed responsibility for recent attacks and is
thought to have planted the bomb. It warned recently it is
escalating its campaign against Catholics
The UDA formally withdrew support for the Good Friday Agreement
last month while insisting that its so-called "ceasefire"
remained intact. But the UDA has carried out over 200 sectarian
attacks this year alone and have murdered a Catholic and a
Protestant teenager since July. In January another Protestant man
was beaten to death by young UDA members who mistook him for a
Catholic.
After the murder last month of Gavin Brett, who was also wrongly
assumed by his killers to be a Catholic, the British government
announced that they were reviewing the UDA ceasefire -- but
nothing ever came of it.
In the wake of the new attacks, Sinn Fein again urged British
Secretary of State John Reid to declare the UDA ceasefire over.
Party chairman Mitchel McLaughlin appealed for Dr Reid to "climb
down off the fence, stop vacillating and declare the UDA
cessation over".
CATHOLICS FORCED OUT
Meanwhile, the UDA have been behined a series of sectarian
attacks in Belfast.
A Catholic couple who have lived in their north Belfast house for
35 years have been forced to leave this weekend following a bomb
attack.
Mr Dermot and Mrs Dolores Hoy's home has been attacked 21 times
this year. They live near one of the sectarian interfaces in the
Oldpark area.
They were in the living room of their house on Thursday night
when a pipe-bomb exploded in their back garden, shattering
windows in their conservatory.
The Oldpark area, sometimes known as Murder Mile, has seen some
of the most bitter sectarian violence of the last 30 years,
suffering almost one-fifth of the total casualties of the
Troubles.
A second device exploded two doors down from the Hoys, in a house
belonging to a Protestant neighbour, because it was through they
were also Catholics. Ms Nora Meekin was in her garden when the
device landed and exploded at her feet, but she was uninjured.
Mr Hoy said that in the wake of last year's loyalist feuding, a
group had moved into a nearby development, who "brought their
hatreds and their prejudices with them".
And more than a dozen families were evacuated twice from their
homes in two separate pipe-bomb alerts in Derry at the weekend.
The devices were found outside Catholic homes in the mixed
Shearwater Way in the Waterside area of the city.
A pipe bomb was discovered at around lunchtime on Sunday in the
front garden of the house of a retired Catholic couple. d another
device was defused at the rear of an adjoining house on Saturday
morning.
The Catholic occupant, Patricia Doherty, who was at home with her
husband and 17-year-old daughter at the time, said there was a
"lot of fear" among the nationalist community.
Fourteen neighbouring houses were evacuated while efforts were
made to deal with the bomb at Mrs Doherty's house.
"I have lived here for 20 years and I think there is more fear
now than ever before in the area," she said last night.
-------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> British government have 'sat on their hands' - SF
Sinn Fein has warned the British government that if he it wants
republicans to back policing reforms they will have to be
re-drafted. Meanwhile, the party has sought talks on the other
outstanding issues in the political process.
The party is due to meet the British government tomorrow
afternoon in a bid to kick start a process aimed at resolving the
stalemate over policing, demilitarisation, the stability of the
political institutions and the issue of arms.
Earlier this month, the British Government suspended the new
political institutions in order to create a six week period for
further progress to be made. But Sinn Fein chairman Michel
McLaughlin said that since the suspension of the institutions on
11th August, the British government have "sat on their hands".
"They have organised no meetings, held no discussions and engaged
in no private dialogue," he said. "Tomorrow's meeting with the
British Ggvernment is at our request and we will be discussing in
detail the areas in which the British government's Implementation
Plan still fails to bridge the gap to the Patten proposals."
Sinn Fein has refused to back the current reform plans for
policing in the North. Assembly member Gerry Kelly branded the
British government's Implementation Plan for Policing as
"unworkable".
It was "incapable of providing for the new beginning to policing
promised by the Good Friday Agreement," he insisted.
The rival nationalist SDLP last week decided to support the
plans. Ulster Unionist Party has indicated that it will nominate
three members to the policing board, although they will continue
to press for a rolling back of the reforms.
But Mr Kelly said: "If nationalists and republicans are to take
the massive historic leap that is required to sign up to policing
then the British government cannot pull down the shutters on
negotiations - not unless it doesn't want a deal."
Mr Kelly, speaking at a republican hungerstrike rally in Cork,
welcomed comments from one of the authors of the Patten Report on
policing who has expressed dissatisfaction with the latest plan.
Professor Gerald Lynch, president of the John Jay College of
Criminal Justice in New York, said the plan did not meet the full
recommendations of the Patten report.
"It would be more in the spirit of Patten if several issues were
addressed," Lynch said. "For instance, all members of the police
force -- not just new ones -- should take the human rights oath.
The policing board should have more autonomy, and should not be
so subject to the discretion of the Secretary of State.
"I am not trying to become a dissenting voice but, as a member of
the commission which worked so long and so thoroughly, I would
have liked to see this plan come closer to the Patten report.
"Patten always said that policing would be the final step in the
peace process, and we also said that we didn't think
cherrypicking the report was the way to go."
Lynch refused to criticise the SDLP decision to nominate members
to the policing board, as he said that was a political matter.
But he disputed the party's view that the implementation plan
could "deliver the spirit and substance of Patten".
Mr Kelly, Sinn Fein policing spokesman said the oath was of
crucial importance. It was felt necessary by Patten because so
many serving RUC officers had taken oaths to the Orange Order and
other loyal institutions.
He asked what objection police officers had to taking the oath.
"Is it because they reject the very notion of people having human
rights? Is it because they believe their oath to the Orange Order
or other loyalist organisations is more important?"
He said: "Whatever the reason, it is not good enough and is
unacceptable."
-------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> Fears mount for Colombia three
Reports emanating from Colombia over the weekend indicate that
the lives of the three Irishmen being held in a Colombian jail
are in imminent danger.
Paddy Connolly, brother of one of the men being held on suspicion
they trained left-wing rebels, said they were being targeted by
right-wing prisoners in the notoriously dangerous and crowded La
Modelo prison.
"Three men are in a situation where they are not charged, not
convicted; it is still in the investigation stage and their lives
are in very, very serious danger."
The three men were arrested earlier this month in Bogota after
they arrived on a flight from the rebel-held area.
In a wave of anti-Republican media hysteria, the men were
labelled as IRA 'narco-terrorists' who were plotting
international Marxist warfare from the Colombian jungle.
A fourth Irishman was deported after being found near the
rebel-held area, but managed to escape the fate of the other
three. But Kevin Crennan, who has been teaching English in
Colombia for a number of years, described his treatment as
groundless and racist.
The three men still being held in Bogota are urgently seeking a
transfer to another high security jail.
One Irish woman who visited the men, described their conditions
as appalling and said there was not enough evidence to hold them.
Anne Barr, from County Donegal, is also a friend of Kevin Crennan
who was deported from Colombia at the weekend.
Ms Barr, who now lives in Colombia, was the first to visit the
three Irishmen on Sunday. She said that even her brief visit
was a sickening and dangerous undertaking in the lethal jail
conditions, where armed gang warfare is the norm.
"I expected from what I had read in the newspapers, I expected to
meet a pile of terrorists. What a load of nonsense. I met three
really committed people to the Northern Ireland peace process.
"I was their first visitor. I asked lots of friends here and they
sent me to a prisoners solidarity group, people who really take a
risk and go in and see prisoners who are in a high risk area.
"The Irishmen are on a paramilitary wing. The paramilitaries
won't let humanitarian workers into the jail. They have a cell
which is absolutely airless. There is no air at all. I came out
with a splitting headache, I don't know how they bear it.
Somebody who is in that part of the prison and who insisted on
having fresh air they had to take them up past the paramilitary
floors to get fresh air and they were killed last week.'
"With a bit of luck they will survive there. But the most awful
thing about is that they gave me the Attorney General's print-out
of what they have been accused of. There is no proof in it
whatsoever. I can't understand why they are being held.
"The supposed explosive tests - they said their hands were never
tested. Their bodies were never tested for explosives nor the
actual clothes they had on them. It was their bags which had been
on an army aeroplane and then had been in an army base where they
were held for a while."
Sinn Fein TD for Cavan/Monaghan, Caoimhghin O Caolain today
supported calls on the Department of Foreign Affairs, from the
families of the three Irishmen detained in Colombia to intervene
in the cases of their relatives.
Deputy O Caolain said: "It is important that the human rights of
these men are protected while they are in custody and are brought
home to Ireland as soon as possible."
Deputy O Caolain has been in touch with the Department of Foreign
Affairs at the request of the families.
Deputy O Caolain said: "I am deeply concerned at reports
emanating from Colombia over the weekend indicating that the
lives of these three men could be in imminent danger. The Irish
government has a responsibility to ensure that the rights of
Irish nationals being detained abroad are upheld and I am calling
on them to intervene immediately to ensure that these men are
protected from any danger.
"Furthermore as the unsubstantiated reports, on which this case
seem to be based, have been shown to be false I am calling on the
Government to do all in its power to have these men released and
returned to their families has soon as possible."
-------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> British government accused of undermining inquiry
An official inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings is
likely to end in the next few months unless the British
government co-operates with it.
British authorities have been asked to supply military and
intelligence reports about the 1974 loyalist attacks, which
claimed 33 lives. But Henry Barron, the retired judge in charge
of the inquiry, is reported to be impatient with their delays in
handing over the documents.
Barron, appointed by the Irish government, is investigating
allegations that members of the British Army and/or RUC Special
Branch colluded with loyaists in carrying out the bombings,
possibly to turn public opinion in the South against the armed
struggle in the Six Counties.
John Weir, a former RUC sergeant jailed for colluding with
loyalists in the murder of a Catholic, has given a detailed
account of the operation, which he said involved members of the
security forces and British military intelligence agents.
On Saturday, Greg O'Neill, a lawyer representing the victims'
families, said: "The judge and his staff cannot wait for the
British government indefinitely. I expect him to make a decision
in September or October. He could wind up his inquiries and say
that he did not receive co-operation from the British government,
or delay concluding his report to see whether he gets
co-operation."
In March, Barron formally asked the British government for all
intelligence and military information it held on the attacks,
together with military and security assessments of the suspects.
The Irish government has been requesting the information since
December 1999.
Despite assurances that the information would be provided,
nothing has been forthcoming.
Barron has now interviewed Weir and he also been studying a
report by an explosives expert which suggests that the device
used in the Dublin bomb could only have come from stocks held by
the security forces, and that a British Army ammunition technical
officer must have assisted in the attack.
The report narrows this individual to one of about five people,
who are not named, one of whom is now a senior official in the
Ministry of Defence in London.
The explosives expert concludes that the Monaghan bomb, which
detonated 90 minutes after the Dublin blasts and killed eight
people, was of standard loyalist construction and was probably
set off as a diversion to allow the Dublin bombers to escape.
The three Dublin bombs went off simultaneously without warning to
cause maximum carnage. The report says: "Loyalist terrorist
groups did not have the skills to undertake this operation in
1974. Further, I do not believe they have ever possessed them,
otherwise a similarly complex operation would have been
repeated."
-------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> 'Drugs cocktail' claims three lives in West Belfast
The family and friends of three young men and the entire West
Belfast community are in a state of shock this week after the
bodies of the three, who took a lethal mixture of drugs, were
discovered on Sunday morning in Andersontown and Ballymurphy.
Eamon McCoubrey (22), Jim O'Connor (20) and 18-year-old Thomas
Sterritt all appear to have died from a lethal cocktail of drugs
that were almost certainly stolen in a recent spate of robberies
on local pharmacies.
The role of the RUC in using drug dealers as informers and
allowing them to act with impunity is starkly illustrated by the
mixture of drugs believed to have caused the death of these three
young men. It is believed that the cocktail included diazapam and
morphine mixed with alcohol.
The release of known anti-social criminals by the RUC following
pharmacy robberies on the Grosverner Road and elsewhere in West
Belfast has no doubt resulted in the availability of this lethal
drug cocktail on the streets of West Belfast.
Local Sinn Fein Assembly member Sue Ramsey has said that the
"people of West Belfast are shocked and horrified at these
deaths" but added that these are not the first drugs related
deaths in the area.
"While acknowledging that there has been much good work done
within the community, it is also true that for too long West
Belfast has been starved of the necessary resources needed to
tackle the issue" said Sue Ramsey.
"Sinn Fein believe that these problems are best tackled by
community groups, parents and young people with the statutory
agencies providing resources and support. We're talking about the
heart being ripped out of a community. The community as a whole
has to be involved" added the Sinn Fein Assembly member.
Falls Community Council Drug Awareness Programme Coordinator,
Gerry McConville has added his voice to the demand for a
community led response to the problems of drug misuse.
"These deaths have shocked our whole community and serve to
remind us of the tragic consequences that can be visited upon
anyone through the misuse of drugs" said Mr McConville.
"The Falls Community Council Drug Programme has been to the
forefront in tackling the drug misuse problem for over 10 years
in West Belfast. We believe in a community led, multi-agency
approach to the problem. The starting point for this must be the
full implementation of the Executive's Drug Strategy."
This entails resources and support being put in place to ensure
that young people are informed of the effects of drugs and their
dangers and that young people receive appropriate preventative
drug education.
Sinn Fein's Sue Ramsey added that projects aimed at alerting
young people to the dangers of drugs had been cut because of a
lack of funding. Sue Ramsey, the Sinn Fein spokesperson
Children's Issues has also contacted the Department of Health to
set up a meeting with Jo Daykin who is responsible for overseeing
the anti-drug strategy in the six counties.
"While recognising that this issue is an interdepartmental issue
we will be seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister for
Health, as the Health Department is the lead agency" concluded
Miss Ramsey.
DRUGS CULTURE
The tragic death of these three young men in West Belfast also
highlights the growing culture of drug misuse throughout the six
counties and indeed throughout Ireland. In the north over figures
put the number of young people experimenting with drugs at
anywhere between 35% and 75%.
It is clear that we do not have the right strategy in place. Miss
Ramsey, Mr McConville and others have urged two essential
elements: better education and better rehabilitation to be driven
by the community.
The RUC and the courts remain perhaps the biggest barrier to
progress. The RUC refuse to tackle the anti-social problems in
nationalist areas in the hope to undermine nationalist confidence
and blackmail communities into accepting an unreformed police
force. While the Courts refuse to accept the need for a new
approach.
The role of loyalists and in particular the UDA in flooding the
six counties with drugs can also not be underestimated.
In staunchly loyalist areas, such as Ballymena the heartland of
the DUP's Ian Paisley, the Antrim Coast and the Shankill in West
Belfast, have seen fierce battles between loyalists over the
control of drugs. Heroin and Ecstasy are freely available in
these areas.
The obstruction of the creation of a policing service by
Unionists and the lack of support for community initiatives both
play into this dangerous mix.
-------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> Loyalists walk out of talks on school blockade
As the new school year approaches the prospects of a return to
Holy Cross Primary Schools in North Belfast for scores of young
children appears bleak after loyalists walked out of talks
chaired by the Mediation Network aimed at resolving the loyalist
blockade.
In June, loyalists blocked access to the primary school amid
terrifying scenes and heart broken parents and crying children.
Talks set up under the auspices of the Mediation Network to
resolve the situation have now broken down after Loyalists
refused to continue negotiations with the parents' group, the
Right to Education (REG).
REG has now called on the unionist MP for the area Nigel Dodds to
help to secure safe passage for the schoolchildren. Brendan
Mailey, spokesperson for the parents, said; "The rights of
children to access their place of education without precondition
must be paramount. In the absence of any formal talks we are
calling on political and civic leaders to bring their influence
to bear".
It is believed that Loyalists backed out of talks after parents
refused to allow the issue of their children's education to be
turned into a political football by militant loyalists.
Talks have been ongoing for 7 weeks over the summer holidays and
the new term is due to begin on Monday, September 3rd.
In a statement REG said that they were not in a position to
respond to all of the concerns raised by the loyalists during the
35 hours of negotiations.
The statement said, "We entered this as a group of parents with
limited influence within our community. This is still the case.
Our mandate comes from other parents. While we acknowledge that
there are issues and deeply held grievances felt by Glenbryn it
is not within our power to resolve these issues".
-------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> Tallaght builders oppose black market
Building workers in Tallaght, Dublin, marched on Wednesday
morning last week in protest against what they term 'excessive
levels of sub-contracting and black-market employement' on a site
in the area.
Approximately 600 workers joined the march, from The Square,
Tallaght, to the Shamrock Rovers FC site where they work. The
march was organised by Building Workers Against the Black
Economy. The group oppose black-economy work on the basis that it
endangers the health and safety rights of employees, and allows
employers to pay them less wages.
Denis Farrelly, the Dublin organiser of the Builders and Allied
Trades Union (BATU), said that as the building on the site is
being sponsored by government funds, it was a "disgrace" that
they were being used "to fuel the black economy".
Sinn Fein's Dublin South West representative, Councillor Sean
Crowe, welcomed the news later on Wednesday evening that Shamrock
Rovers and the building contractors in question, O'Loughlin's of
Longford, have agreed to meet with the Tallaght workers.
"I welcome this decision and hope it will result in a speedy
resoultion to the problem," he said. "At the height of a building
boom, it is inconceivable that proper conditions as regards
wages, health and safety of workers are in jeopardy on some
sites."
-------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> Australian leaders urge progress
A group of senior Australian trade union leaders and MPs have
written to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie
Ahern, urging them not to let unionist politicians frustrate the
peace process.
Five senior Australian trade union leaders, including the
national secretaries for the maritime and construction unions, an
assistant secretary of the New South Wales Labor Party and eight
Labor MPs, as well as Green Party representative Ian Cohen,
signed the letter. It noted that the current crisis has been
triggered by the resignation of UUP leader David Trimble and it
said unionists should not be allowed to exercise a veto to which
they have no right.
The letter described the IRA offer to put its arms verifiably
beyond use as courageous and it called upon loyalists to do
likewise.
The letter states:
"We are concerned that the present crisis has been deliberately
contrived by the unionist forces to frustrate and undermine
political reform. We note that the trigger for the present crisis
was the resignation of Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble
as First Minister.
"We urge your governments to honour all the commitments made in
the Good Friday Agreement and not allow the unionists to continue
to act in a unilateral manner exercising a veto that they have no
right to.
"For too long now, unionists have hidden behind the issue of
decommissioning as an excuse not to proceed with agreed political
reforms. Last week's statement by the Independent International
Commission on Decommissioning that the IRA had begun a process of
putting its arms "completely and verifiably beyond use", exposed
the spurious motives of those who have hidden behind
Decommissioning as the basis for opposing political reform."
The letter terms the IRA's proposal on arms, since withdrawn
because of the British government's suspension of the
institutions, as "courageous" and as "greatly enhanced the peace
process".
Expressing their abhorrence of loyalist attacks, the Australian
group also called for loyalists to be put under pressure to match
the IRA offer. Saving the peace process is a matter of
"collective responsibility" they said, to which a new beginning
to policing is an integral part:
"We believe that the immediate reform of the RUC, at least in
line with the proposals in the Patten Report, is an urgent
requirement for the future of the peace process. So too is the
British government's commitment to a timetable for the complete
demilitarisation of its Armed Forces and facilities in Ireland."
The letter is signed by: Paddy Crumlin, National Secretary
Maritime Union of Australia; John Maitland, National Secretary
Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union; John Sutton,
National Secretary Construction Workers Union; Maurie O'Sullivan,
General Secretary Public Service Association of NSW; Ron Land,
Secretary United Mineworkers Federation NSW Northern District;
Damian O'Connor, Assistant Secretary Australian Labor Party NSW;
Paddy Gorman, President Australian Aid for Ireland; Paul Lynch,
MP for Liverpool; Col Markham, MP for Wollongong; Hon Peter
Primrose, Member NSW Legislative Council; Hon Ian Cohen, Member
NSW Legislative Council; Alison Megarrity, MP for Menai; John
Mills, MP for Wallsend; Ernie Page, MP for Coogee; Milton
Orkopoulos, MP for Swansea; Neville Newell, MP for Tweed.
-------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> Feature: Disgraceful Nigerian deportation deal
BY ROISIN DE ROSA ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Today, Dublin Justice Minister John O'Donoghue is travelling to
the UN World Conference against Racism in Durban South Africa.
Tomorrow, he will stop off in Nigeria, where he and
his Nigerian counterpart will sign an agreement together to put
in place "a structured repatriation Agreement" for the
deportation of Nigerians who have fled to Ireland under the false
impression that Ireland is a Christian country that cares for
human beings.
How wrong they were. Next week's Readmission Agreement is
precisely designed to send asylum seekers right back into the
care of the same government authorities they successfully ran
from.
The Agreement with Nigeria is no more than making real
O'Donoghue's initial flat-footed observation when the "refugee
crisis" first hit the headlines in Ireland that 95% of refugees
were "bogus".
Does the Agreement mean then that asylum seekers who have fled
persecution by the government will be handed over to that same
government? "Oh no," replied a spokesman for the Department of
Justice. We would never do that." Who else then will the
deportee be handed over to?
This paper has carried several interviews with Nigerian asylum
seekers, members of alternative political parties, and members of
a tribe and religion which the predominantly largely Hausa Moslim
government suppresses and persecutes.
A spokesperson for Minister O'Donoghue's department explained
that the Agreement to be signed next week also provides for the
"strengthening of co-operation between both states in the area of
technical assistance on immigration matters and the continuation
of the state's significant programme of co-operation with Nigeria
under the aegis of Ireland Aid, focusing on basic needs and
poverty reduction... with consideration being given to enhancing
this programme in such areas as the provision of skills
acquisition and training for persons being repatriated to assist
their reintegration."
Does that gobbledegook suggest that that there is a pay-off to
the Nigerians for their cooperation in readmitting asylum seekers
from Ireland? The Department is most anxious to deny there is any
form of pay-off. Minister of State Liz O'Donnell hastened into
the fray last week to deny it, claiming that the figure,
suggested in previous media reports, of aid of #8.8 million to
the Nigerian government as a sweetener was "absurd".
What then is this technical assistance? What then is the
retraining element referred to by the Department? Will asylum
seekers be getting a training course before they are deported, or
will Ireland be funding training schemes for the 'resettlement'
of asylum seekers over in Nigeria?
A spokesperson for the department agreed that the training would
involve informing Nigerian people of the methods by which they
might apply legally for a visa and some advance information on
how they will not be welcome as asylum seekers to Ireland.
Something of a sick joke.
When Minister O'Donoghue goes on to Durban and the UN conference
on racism in South Africa in celebration of the end of Apartheid,
will he be telling the assembled government representatives that
asylum seekers, most of them black, have been denied their right
to work, that they are accommmodated on large campsites, with #15
each for "comfort" money, and don't share equal rights with other
people living here, to legal representation or access to the
courts?
Probably not.
-------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> Analysis: Another kind of black hole
By Danny Morrison (for irelandclick.com)
Black holes are dying stars with gravitational fields so powerful
that not even light can escape. However, terrestrial black holes
have been discovered in many trouble spots around the world,
including in the 1970s and 1980s the Whip and Saddle Bar of the
Europa Hotel, from where not even British journalists could
escape, so magnetic was the pull of alcohol. Thus, half their
stories they had to invent, while the British Army press officer
at Lisburn wrote the other half.
I listened to a BBC reporter in Colombia being interviewed
several times in the past two weeks. This poor man bears all the
hallmarks of a British journalist captured by a black hole. The
Whip and Saddle Bar, Casa Medina, Bogota. This correspondent is
being paid from the public purse to give the public accurate
information and an analysis - even if we skip the notion of
objectivity.
In his first report he said that no foreign traveller would dare
go into the FARC guerrilla-held territory for fear of being
kidnapped, and so the notion that the three Irishmen arrested
with false papers were there sightseeing or fact-finding was a
lot of nonsense. As I wrote last week, FARC have a policy of
openly inviting foreigners to their demilitarised zone. It later
emerged that among those who have visited recently were a Papal
envoy, the Queen of Jordan and the deputy head of the New York
Stock Exchange.
The BBC reporter - and a long list of 'experts', including the
'security correspondent' of Ireland's most prestigious newspaper
of record - also reported that the Colombian authorities had
carried out forensic tests on the clothes and belongings of the
three Irishmen and discovered several different types of
explosives and traces of cocaine. Yet, after these claims were
made the men were filmed still wearing their own clothes! Then
there was the small issue of the satellite photographs 'showing'
the three training FARC guerrillas in the making of 'barrack
busters' - photographs which never existed.
Last Thursday it emerged that it was American officials at the US
embassy in Bogota who carried out the original forensic tests and
that when Colombian officials ran the same tests they came up
negative. The CIA and other Washington securocrats unsuccessfully
opposed the granting of a visa to Gerry Adams back in 1994 and,
undoubtedly, since Bush came to power they are once again in the
driving seat.
There were other reports of alleged incriminating tape
conversations between FARC guerrillas referring to the three men
in a code about as sophisticated as a Dick and Dora story. These
taped conversations were undoubtedly recorded by the same
satellite that took the infamous photographs.
Niels Lindvig, foreign editor of Denmark's national radio, who
has lived in Colombia, criticised the reporting from Bogota and
the unquestioning way that journalists promulgated the various
stories. He said that FARC was not a Marxist organisation nor a
drug-dealing organisation, but taxes every business that makes
more than a million dollars annually. He says that multinationals
and oil companies, as well as drug dealers, pay FARC
'revolutionary' taxes. He says that the people who actually
produce and refine cocaine and heroin are the right-wing,
pro-government paramilitaries.
The arrests of Jim Monaghan, Martin McAuley and Niall Connolly
witnessed probably the most opportunistic attacks on Sinn Fein
since the beginning of the peace process. The extensive reporting
and the exaggerated claims initially made by the authorities
probably played a major part in determining that the men would be
charged rather than expelled for minor passport offences.
These men have been taken to El Modelo prison where their lives
are in grave danger. In 1999 alone 212 inmates were killed - 131
of them shot dead by guards or other inmates. Others were stabbed
or lynched. Last April, during violent clashes, 32 detainees were
killed and 20 seriously injured. Six weeks ago, in clashes
between left-wing revolutionaries and right-wing paramilitaries,
ten prisoners lost their lives. The grim, two-storey block was
built to house 2000 men but now holds 5,000, forty per cent of
them remands who often wait up to four years before a trial. The
jail is rife with drugs, firearms and explosives, with right-wing
prisoners enjoying privileges above the rest.
The prison administration is corrupt and, like the government,
colludes with the right-wing paramilitary prisoners. On February
25th, Martin Villa, a death squad commander who massacred 38
villagers suspected of supporting FARC, escaped from the prison
disguised as a visitor. But prison officials didn't notify the
prosecutor's office about the escape until March 9th. Four days
later two drug smugglers awaiting extradition to the USA also
escaped.
Jineth Bedoya, a reporter with a Colombian newspaper, who accused
the police of colluding with the paramilitary prisoners, was
invited to interview their leader, known as 'the Baker'.
Courageously, she went to the prison but was abducted from the
lobby in full view of the guards, drugged, bound and gagged,
driven around for three hours before being tortured and raped by
four men. She survived but 152 other journalists - not of the
Whip and Saddle Club - have been killed since 1980. George Bush's
buddy and ally, Colombian President Andres Pastrana (himself a
former journalist), and recipient of $1.3 billion in US military
aid, has yet to condemn the attacks.
c. RM Distribution and others. Articles may be reprinted with credit.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
RM Distribution
Irish Republican News and Information
http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
PO Box 160, Galway, Ireland Phone/Fax: (353)1-6335113
PO Box 8630, Austin TX 78713, USA mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
RMD1010828134409p5
Distributed to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
FREE COLLEGE MONEY
CLICK HERE to search
600,000 scholarships!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/zoU8wD/4m7CAA/ySSFAA/XcSolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Peoples_War
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a
struggle to the death between the future and the
past."
Fidel Castro
"There is no revolution without violence. Those who don�t accept violence
can cross out the word revolution from their dictionary."
Malcolm X
"The Marxist-Leninist doctrine on class struggle and the dictatorship of
the proletariat affirms the role of violence in revolution, makes a
distinction between unjust, counter-revolutionary violence and just,
revolutionary violence, between the violence of the exploiting classes,
and that of the masses."
General Vo Nguyen Giap
"Without a Peoples Army the people have nothing"
Mao Tse-Tung
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
