Six Counties, not ‘Northern Ireland’

MUCH media and political fun is often made out of the refusal of Republicans in Ireland to refer to ‘Northern Ireland’ as anything other than the Six Counties or ‘the north’. The morons in the Irish Times and elsewhere who say these things may have different beliefs, principles or agendas; nothing wrong in that.

But they fail to respect us when they trivialise the use of terminology such as Six Counties. There is an enormous difference in thinking behind saying the ‘Six Counties’ instead of ‘Northern Ireland’. To say the latter is to use the English language in such a way as to accept verbal or complete occupation of our country -- the political logic of such verbal filth led to the doing down of Articles 2 & 3.

To quote Orwell, "Political language -- and with variations it is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."

That, from an essay written in 1946 (Politics and the English Language), was a typically crucial Orwellian insight in his time, and was still valid enough for a writer such as Roth to cite as an epigraph to his savage fictionalised laceration of ‘Tricky Dicky’ in Our Gang -- published in the very year Nixon was inaugurated to ‘serve’ in the Oval Office. It remains true in our day; but what Roth didn’t cite (though clearly not out of disagreeing with Orwell) was what followed in the aforementioned essay:

"One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one’s own habits and from time to time can even, if one jeers enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase … or other lump of verbal refuse into the dustbin where it belongs."

None of the phrases cited in that ellipsis has actually been consigned to the dustbin, but that is neither here nor there. But Maggie Thatcher -- who in 1984 called Orwell "a failed prophet" because his novel had not "come true" (ha!) -- has certainly been put in the dustbin of history, even it would seem by her own Conservative & Unionist Party.

Orwell’s point was, to quote directly again, that "one ought to recognise that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end." (My emphases.)

Therefore, if there is to be an honesty about resolving the problem, phrases such as Six Counties and the like must be used when referring to the kernel of the situation, namely that part of Ireland is not being governed by the people of Ireland.

‘Celtic Tiger’ Ireland, under Fianna Fáil, when there is plenty of money about, still fails to serve our society according to the ideals of the 1919 Democratic Programme of the All-Ireland Dáil Éireann.

Watching the lines and lines of ‘00’ reg cars on the Merrion Road in Dublin -- the shining emblems of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ -- it is hard not to recall the words of Robert Lowell at the end of his great poem For the Union Dead:

A savage servility
Slides by on grease.

The Russian novelist Dostoyevsky characterised nihilism as "servility of thought", and it is that most savage of all servilities that much of Irish society and political life suffers from today.

It is difficult to imagine what revulsion the architects of the aforementioned Democratic Programme would feel today if they weren’t safely in their graves.
-- Ciarán Ó Broin
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Comhghairdeas

CONGRATULATIONS and best wishes to Dan Keating on reaching his 99th Birthday on New Years Day 2001. "Jails, internment, can never dim the spirit of one true man." From Matt, Maurice, Tom and all his friends in Kerry.

CONGRATULATIONS and best wishes to Dan Keating of Ballygamboon, Castlemaine, Co Kerry on reaching the grand age of 99 years on New Years Day 2001. Dan’s involvement in the Republican Movement over 80 years is inspirational. His dedication and commitment is unquenchable. He stands as a rock on which the tides of compromise will forever beat in vain. Kerry Comhairle Ceantair, Sinn Féin Poblachtach.

HAPPY 30th birthday (February 9) to Tommy Crossan, Republican POW Maghaberry jail from the Republican Movement, Belfast.

HAPPY 30th birthday (February 9) to Tommy Crossan, Republican POW from the Paul Fox Cumann, Republican Sinn Féin, North Belfast.

HAPPY 30th birthday (February 9) to Tommy Crossan, Republican POW from the McKelvey Steele Cumann, Republican Sinn Féin ,West Belfast.

HAPPY 30th birthday (February 9) to Tommy Crossan, an undefeated Republican POW. From all the staff at 229 Falls Road.
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Comhbhrón

BENN, Deepest sympathy is expressed to Mick Benn, Limerick, on the death of his brother-in-law Junior Meeney. From Republican Sinn Féin, Limerick.

BENN, Deepest sympathy is expressed to Mick Benn on the death of his brother-in-law Junior Meeney. From the Drummer Groom, Co Limerick.

BENN, Deepest sympathy is expressed to Mick Benn on the death of his brother-in-law Junior Meeney. From Joe Lynch and Mick Hanley, Limerick.

BRADY, Deepest sympathy is extended to the family of Justin Brady who died on January 16. From Republicans in Donegal and Tyrone.

LEEN, Deepest sympathy is expressed to Matt Leen and family on the death of their aunt Hannah Leen, Ballymacelligot, Co Kerry. From Kerry Comhairle Ceantair, Republican Sinn Féin.
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I gCuimhne

COX – 1st Anniversary. In proud and loving memory of Des Cox, a patriot true, who died on February 4, 2000. Always remembered by his friends and comrades in the Corrigan/McKearney Cumann, Republican Sinn Féin, Armagh city.

COX – 1st Anniversary. In proud and loving memory of Des Cox, Armagh who died on February 4, 2000. Always remembered by the Republican Movement, Armagh city.

LEEN, REIDY – 80th Anniversary. In proud memory of Volunteer John Leen and Volunteer Maurice Reidy, two comrades who defended the Irish Republic together and died at the hands of British Occupation Forces at Ballydwyer, Ballymacelligott, Co Kerry on Christmas night 1920. "Your inspiration never dies. Your spirit lives on". From Kerry Comhairle Ceantair, Sinn Féin Poblachtach.

IN PROUD and loving memory of Volunteers Seamus Burns, February 12, 1944; James Saunders, February 6, 1971; Joseph Cunningham, February 10, 1972; David McAuley, February 19, 1972; Gerard Bell, February 21, 1972; Robert Dorrian, February 21, 1972; Joseph Magee, February 21, 1972; Gerard Steele, February 21, 1972; Tony Campbell, February 3, 1973; James Sloan, February 3, 1973; James McCann, February 4, 1973; Bridie Dolan, February 9, 1975; Sean Bailey, February 13, 1976; James O’Neill, February 13, 1976; James McGrillen, February 15, 1976; Paul Best, February 18, 1976 (Sinn Féin); Kathleen Thompson, February 9, 1979; Liam Hennessy, February 2, 1981; James Burns, February 23, 1981. From the Republican Movement, Belfast.
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What They Said

The reports I have read about Rebel Heart are really about the RUC and Patten, and the Unionist anxiety to disguise a long, criminal history of violence, systematic discrimination and the abuse of law.
-- Derry born author and internationally renowned academic Séamus Deane writing in the Guardian, January 6, 2001.

In these letters Prime Minister Harold Wilson was told of the problems the RUC had in recruiting Catholics. He was told that the RUC was "viewed with suspicion and even hostility in the North" because "it was a Protestant force designed to resist the IRA". Only about 11% of the members of the RUC were Catholic at that time, May 1969, the IRA had been a dormant force in Irish politics for some years. But the RUC had not reformed.
-- Secret British Home Office memo to Wilson published after 30 years, Sunday Tribune, January 7, 2001.

But Gallagher [assistant secretary of Foreign Affairs Department] expressed doubt in a memo as to the existence of a strong connection between the rioters in Belfast who "act on instructions from elsewhere and "Ó Brádaigh Sinn Féin which called itself the Provisional Sinn Féin.
-- 26-County State papers of 1970, quoted in the Sunday Business Post, January 7, 2001.

The most curious thing about the New Year announcement that Tony O’Reilly was to kneel before a British monarch and receive a British knighthood was the almost complete lack of media curiosity.
-- Emily O’Reilly, Political Correspondent, Sunday Business Post, January 7, 2001.

O’Reilly is a serious player within the British media through his ownership of the British Independent. It is much more likely that he is being knighted at the behest of Tony Blair’s Labour government as part of its pre-election media warm-up.
-- Emily O’Reilly.

Ireland’s planned involvement in the NATO-aligned Partnership for Peace and the [26-County] government’s more recent endorsement of the EU’s Rapid Reaction Force has added an urgency to the planned modernisation of the defence forces.
-- Sunday Business Post, January 7, 2001.

With contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds at stake, the procurement process has attracted unprecedented interest from the international arms industry.
-- Sunday Business Post.

No amount of bullying or bartering by British politicians can guarantee that, under current proposals, the police service will deliver a fair and neutral service.
-- Sunday Business Post editorial January 21, 2001.

The Secretary of State and the Chief Constable will enjoy excessive powers with limited accountability to a democratic process. The new Policing Board and Oversight Commissioner are restricted in their responsibilities, while uncertainty remains over the flags and embelms to be adopted by the new force.
-- Sunday Business Post.

Within weeks of that agreement [at Hillsborough last May], Peter Mandelson’s shelving of important sections of Patten — particularly in relation to local political accountability and the future of specialist policing — created a climate of mistrust that has sent everything else downhill. His recent threat to shelve important decisions on the future of policing have only served to poison the waters.
-- Tom McGurk, Sunday Business Post, January 21,2001.

Here in a war [WWII] allegedly fought in the name of democracy when it gives the wrong answer. The Irish simply had no right to independence when Britain beckoned (them to join her in WWII).
-- Professor Joe Lee, Sunday Tribune, January 21, 2001.

Before leaving office yesterday President Bill Clinton pardoned White-water scandal figure Susan McDougal and one-time revolutionary and kidnapped heiress Patricia Hearst, Clinton decided not to pardon financier Michael Milken, Native American Leonard Peltier and former Justice Department Official Webster Hubbell.
-- Sunday Tribune, January 21, 2001.

The document refers to a memo cited by the lawyers which was written by the Commander of Land Forces (NI), General Robert Ford on 7 January 1972 recording that he was "coming to the conclusion that the minimum force necessary to achieve restoration of law and order is to shoot selected ringleaders among them the Derry young hooligans after clear warnings have been issued".
-- Éamon McCann reporting on the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, Sunday Tribune, January 21, 2001.

Among those who attended the 27 January, 1972 TSC [joint Security Committee at Stormont] meeting were the British Army’s commander in the North Harry Tugo, RUC Chief Constable Graham Shillington, and City of Derry Unionist MP Albert Anderson. The meeting was chaired by the acting Home Affairs Minister at Stormont, John Taylor, now an MP and deputy leader of the UUP.
-- Éamon McCann.

The letter identifies officers arguably guilty of offences as: General Ford, Brigadier Patrick Mac Lellan, Commander of the 8th Brigade and in overall command on Bloody Sunday; his Brigade Major, Lt-Col Sreele; Lt-Col Derek Wilford, Commander of the First Battalion of the Paras (later decorated by Queen Elizabeth II), and Major Ted Lodan, the senior officer with Support Company of 1 Para on the ground in the Bogside on the day.
-- Éamon McCann.

Of greater concern is the organised and increasing level of attacks on Catholics by the UDA. In three major towns in Antrim, the sectarian ratchet is being turned up and, in the north Belfast interface, an organised campaign of pipe bomb attacks on Catholic homes is under way.
-- Tom McGurk, Sunday Business Post, January 28, 2001.

As a former armed forces minister,(Dr John] Reid is also a strong supporter of the [British] military. He caused controversy when he refused to meet relatives of a north Belfast man, Peter McBride, shot dead by two British soldiers who were subsequently convicted of murder but released early.
-- Ed Moloney, Sunday Tribune, January 28, 2001.

Another indication of [Provisional] Sinn Féin’s determination to keep the process going came last week with the revelation that the party had recently banned any of its representatives visiting prisoners on Texas death row apparently for fear of embarrassing the newly installed Republican President George Bush.
-- Ed Moloney.

He [de Valera] would have been loath to reveal the full extent of Irish collaboration with Britain during the war for fear of alienating a substantial proportion of voters.
-- Professor Joe Lee, Sunday Tribune, January 28, 2001.

Charlie McCreevy’s budgetary strategy leaves a lot to be desired in both economic and social terms, but he should not change it in response to pressure from the EU Commission or from his counterparts on the Council of Ministers.
-- Colm Rapple’s column, Sunday Business Post, January 28, 2001, under heading "Who controls Ireland’s Economy?

Former Attorney General and Irish EU Commissioner Peter Sutherland has urged MEPs to postpone the Nice Treaty for almost a year because the current draft runs counter to the interests of smaller member states, including Ireland.
-- Sunday Tribune, January 28, 2001.

Sutherland told the Sunday Tribune that one of his major concerns about the treaty is that it will involve the European Commission’s ceding powers to the four biggest EU states, Germany, France, Britain and Italy.
-- Sunday Tribune.

But the combination of Josecka Fischer’s (German Foreign Minister) welfare state and George W Bush’s tax system can only be achieved when the Irish economy is booming.
-- David McWilliams, Sunday Business Post, January 28, 2001.

The culture of the Tribunals, no matter how it may be dressed up, is based fundamentally on envy and greed. Those who are accused may themselves turn out to have been guilty of greed as well, but it will not emerge as anything like as toxic as the impotent, rageful greed of those who pursue them.
-- John Waters, Irish Times, January 29, 2001.

RUC figures released yesterday show that there have been 28 pipe-bomb attacks since the start of January. Nine of these were in Coleraine.
-- Irish Times, January 31, 2001.

Although [Gerry] Fitt personally approved of the Irish government (sic) introducing internment, he indicated that he might have to voice a different opinion publicly.
-- 26- County State Papers of 1970.

Concern was expressed [by Dublin] about the former B-Specials (armed police auxiliaries ) setting up rifle clubs across the North.
-- 26-County State Papers of 1970.

"We shall see an end to Partition within, at most, a generation" predicted Foreign Minister Patrick Hillery in July 1970 to the inaugural meeting of the Inter-Departmental Unit, a civil service think-tank that formed government policy on the North.
-- 26-County State Papers of 1970.

Among the recommendations made by the unit was that the term "Northern Ireland" should be used in official correspondence instead of "Six Counties", and that the Constitution should be entirely overhauled in anticipation of an end to Partition.
-- 26-County State Papers 1970. The reverse has in fact happened to the 26-County Constitution.
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