SAOIRSE Irish Freedom June 2001

Sectarian attacks increasing

REPUBLICAN Sinn Féin, Belfast said in a statement on May 23 that they are concerned by the high level of sectarian attacks on the nationalist community across Belfast. The most recent was at the so-called peaceline at the Falls, Shankill, Springfield Road, West Belfast and also at Ardoyne Road, North Belfast.

“The sectarian attacks on Ashmore Hostel at Cupar Way was clearly an attempt at mass murder of innocent men, women and children by loyalist bigots and should not be allowed to be white-washed over.

“Republican Sinn Féin call on all nationalists to be vigilant; there is little doubt that these attacks on the nationalist community are just a sample of things to come, in the run up to July.”
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Mother flees UVF attacks

LOYALIST incendiaries continued their campaign of ethnic cleansing with a petrol bomb attack on a Belfast family on May 13.

Catherine Swindall (30) and her children including one aged four months were awakened from their slumber by a loud bang at 4am. The device had been shoved through the letter box of her Snugville Street home in the Shankill area.

The hallway and its door took the main force of the blast preventing the flames from spreading to the living room. The distraught mother who has since fled her home has no doubt who was behind the attack. She is adamant the British instigated death squad – the UDA/UFF. “It’s been a traumatic time and a horrific experience”, she said. I can’t understand why we were attacked”.

Her mother, Dorothy Swindell in describing the culprits said; “These people are just rats who come out in the middle of the night -- they are scum.”
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Strasbourg ruling slates Britain

CAMPAIGNERS have stepped up their demands for independent inquiries into Britain’s shoot-to-kill policy following a landmark decision by the European Court of Human Rights.

On May 4 the Strasbourg Court ordered the British government to pay £10,000 in compensation to the families of 12 people shot dead in the period 1982-91.

The court ruled that British investigations into the deaths were inadequate.

Already campaigners have sent a dossier on crown forces/loyalist collusion and shoot-to-kill operations to the United Nations.

Commenting on the Strasbourg ruling, Johnathan McKerr, whose father Gervaise was one of those unarmed IRA Volunteers shot dead by the British Colonial police (RUC) in 1982, said the court “saw through the British government’s lies and fabrication”.

In the landmark ruling, the judges unanimously asserted that investigations into the killings breached Article Two – “the right to life” of the European Convention of Human Rights. According to Paul Mayeean of the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) the ruling imposes an obligation on British Courts to rectify the situation,

“The judgement obliges the authorities to establish independent mechanisms to investigate alleged killings by police and army”, he said. Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice said those involved in the killings should face charges.
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More Brit collusion

FURTHER evidence at British Collusion with and control of loyalist death squads is revealed in BBC Journalist Peter Taylor’s latest book, Brits: The War Against the IRA.

A British Army Officer who ‘ran’ UDA double agent Brian Nelson has admitted his involvement in the killing of nationalists. Code-named ‘Geoff’ and speaking to Peter Taylor, the former British Army Officer, currently serving in the RUC, detailed his role in the late 1980s. ‘Geoff’ describes how he helped the UDA intelligence officer to collate and store information on computer discs and how he supported Nelson whenever the loyalist was selecting targets. Among those murdered were; Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, Gerald Slane, Terence McDaid and pensioner Francisco Notorantonio.

There were always questions about the circumstances surrounding these murders, especially high profile solicitor Pat Finucane, gunned down in front of his family in February 1989.

This latest revelation once again throws new light on the activities of the British Army’s ‘Force Research Unit’, a shadowy intelligence outfit whose existence only came to light during Nelson’s 1992 trial for murder.

It also raises questions for the ‘Stevens’ Inquiry which is currently investigating allegations of collusion between British Forces and loyalist Death Squads and has already interviewed ‘Geoff’.
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‘More power to Big Four as neutrality is eroded -- Vote No!’

Republican Sinn Féin launched its campaign on the Nice Treaty at a press conference in Dublin on May 24.

The organisation advocated a “No” Vote in the referendum on June 7 because of (1) centralisation of power; (2) domination by the larger states; and (3) the militarisation of the EU. “We are not opposed to EU enlargement,” Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, President of Republican Sinn Féin said at the press conference.

We are opposed to the limiting of debate to the latter point. There is a process at work here through the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties to Nice.

“EU Commission President Romano Prodi made the objective clear in the European Parliament on February 13, 2001. He said: “Are we all clear that we want to build something that can aspire to be a world power? In other words, not just a trading bloc but a political entity.”

“Prodi was also reported in the Financial Times (April 9, 1999) as stating: “The pillars of the Nation State are the sword and the currency, and we changed that.” The Irish pound has been amalgamated into the Euro and with the development of the Rapid Reaction Force the army of the 26-County State will become a regiment of the new European army.

“Due to limited resources a choice would have to be made between the RRF and serving with the UN as a peace-keeping force in the only global inclusive organisation committed to securing peace through international co-operation and collective security.

“While neutrality is being whittled away we have been promised a referendum if a decision is being made to jettison it finally. The politicians promised us such before deciding to join the NATO-led Partnership for Peace (Fianna Fáil election manifesto 1997).

“Yet a year-and-a-half later they went ahead and joined it without reference to the people. Can we trust them again? By voting No to Nice on June 7 we can effectively restrain them from another public breach of faith. This may be the last chance to put the brakes on them. Let us use it.

“The EEC was sold to the people of the 26 Counties in 1972 on the basis that the Veto would protect Irish interests and could always be invoked. The Nice Treaty provides for abolishing the Veto power of member-states in 30 more areas. Power is being steadily centralised.

“Nice represents a decisive shift away from equality among the member-states to domination by the four large countries: Germany, France, Britain and Italy. These will treble their votes in making EU laws from January 2005 while small states like the 26 Counties will only double theirs.

“The Nice Treaty provides a veto power to a group of countries who account for 39% of the population of the EU. Thus Germany and France acting with any one small state could block decisions unfavourable to them.

“A two-tier European Union would evolve under Nice. It would allow an inner group of states led by Germany and France to adopt a constitution for a quasi-Federal European State. Presumably the new entrants from Eastern Europe would not be invited to join this elite group. Thus the powerful elite would dominate the rest.

“The Nice Treaty consolidates the progress towards the creation of a nuclear-armed superstate, a new European Empire. The Rapid Reaction Force will be able to operate initially in an area 2,500 miles from the border of the EU.

“This would include North Africa, the Middle East and the Caucasus area of the old Soviet Union, all important regions for oil and other scarce natural resources.

“It is the youth of today and tomorrow who will be involved in the “resource wars of the 21st Century” (Jacques Delors). Voting No to Nice will be a blow for democracy throughout the EU, not just in the 26 Counties.

“Republican Sinn Féin supports the removal of the death penalty. While agreeing with the concept, enough information is not yet available to take a position on the proposed International Criminal Court.

“With regard to the Nice Treaty however, if you don’t know, Vote No.”

Speaking at the conference, Geraldine McNamara, Tipperary Ard Comhairle member said:
“On May 8 the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) called for a 'No' vote on the Nice Treaty, stating that it would interfere with Irish neutrality and create a two-tier Europe.

“People such as Mary Harney and Síle de Valera are amongst the Euro sceptics in the past. John Bruton when as leader of Fine Gael joined Bertie Ahern insisting that having an Irish member on the Commission was non-negotiable. The Nice Treaty does away with that automatic right.

“Ruairí Quinn, the 26-County Labour Party leader, has described aspects of the Treaty as a 'disaster' and 'an appalling setback'.

Now these same people are asking the public to believe that they have had a change of opinion and therefore so should everyone else.”

Geraldine Mcnamara quoted the worlds of the former Attorney-General in the 26 Counties, John Rogers: “It is clear that the capacity of an Irish citizen to influence decisions which will intimately affect his/her life will be significantly reduced by the impact of the Nice Treay.”
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National Platform accuse Ahern of ‘smokescreen’

IN A statement on May 29 Anthony Coughlan of the National Platform accused 26 County Premier Bertie Ahern of creating a smokescreen so as to deflect debate away from the real implications of the Nice Treaty.

“Yet again Bertie Ahern refuses to respond to any critical analysis of the Nice Treaty, preferring instead to hide behind the smokescreen of enlargement, dismissing all other issues as in his own words side “issues”. “This is the response of a government that insists it wants a post-Nice debate, it cannot even manage a pre-Nice debate,” Anthony Coughlan said.

Anthony Coughlan cited the real issues as the ‘enhanced co-operation’ provisions allowing a core group of powerful states such as France and Germany to push their own agenda on the other states, the loss of the National Veto and the re-weighting of votes and the German proposals for the creation of an EU Government.

“If our political representatives could address some real issues, rather than putting up smoke-screens, and if they could also try to address some of the issues in this Treaty, perhaps we could have a real debate on Nice,” he said.
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