faSfeiSis^M-iJifcLi'Vkii eh .f •/

J3rc)oke refuses to rule out re-introduction of Internment in new repressive package

Founded 1939 No 5$8 Connolly Association: campaigning for a united and independent Ireland December 1990 Price 40p

I I 1 1 1 11 1 1 I I I I I I I I I I 1 1 I I I I I I I I I I I I

Irish unity: strategies for consent Full report of Connolly Association trade union seminar

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 « i

p2 Where now for the

stop to allegations of brutality l l l l l M n i ^ ^ y -

Lord Colville also suggested the appointment of an om-budsman-style figure to in-vestigate the complaints procedures of the police and army: that is out. He sug-gested the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights could keep existing emergency legislation under constant review: that it out. He suggested cases should nor-mally go to jury trial unless 'certified in' to the Diplock courts: that is out.

Predictably enough, the gov-ernment only accepted the good lord's advice when he opted for more repressive powers. The new Bill creates the offence of 'going equipped for terrorism' under which na-tionalists with alarm clocks in their bedrooms have to prove that they use them to get up in the morning and the marzipan in their kitchen is for baking cakes not making bombs. Once again, the burden of proof is shifted by Clause 29 (1) onto the defendant, and 'reasonable suspicion' is all that is required to convict. Commented Labour's front-bench Northern Ireland spo-kesperson Kevin McNamara: "A 10-year jail sentence could be meted out for the crime of being suspected. That Is Kaf-kaesque nonsense." The clause was "a charter for offi-

IE BRITISH govern-ment has refused to rule out the re-intro-duction of intern-ment without trial of

its political opponents in the SixCounties.

And if the Emergency Provi-sions Bill currently making its way through parliament reaches the statute books, as it is more than likely it shall, in-ternment could be launched without the Northern Ireland secretary even needing prior parliamentary approval.

The new Bill updates the 1978 and 1987 Emergency Pro-visions Acts and introduces some new offences of poten-tially very wide scope. Trial by juiy for most political offences remains off the agenda, the right to silence is not restored, and police and army powers to stop, search and arrest are further extended. I The government is retaining the power of internment - or 'executive detention' as they want it to be now known -against the advice of one of their senior advisers, Viscount Colville of Culross, who has

iewed the Prevention of terrorism Act for them.

- "no starr as Labour's Jim

attested during the stec-g of the Bill last

- recommended intem-

is a real opportunity to

underline the will to return to . .nornaglity," Colville Argued -a theme Northern Secretary Petef Brooke himself is par-ticularly fond of. Arguing it was associated the world over with authoritarian regimes, Colville "vigorously" recom-mended: "no more deten-tion".

But Brooke says abandoning internment "would send the wrong signal to the IRA" - by which he probably means he would lay himself open to charges from the Tory right and Unionist die-hards that he was 'soft on terrorism'. Colville's second significant

recommendation, the video-recording of police inter-views, is also rejected by the government. Colville argued that video-recording, without sound, would allow allega-tions of police brutality to be rebutted and would enhance public confidence in the police. Brooke was having none of

it. Rejecting the suggestion, he claimed that "the introduction of video-recording could seri-ously jeopardise the useful-ness of the interview process" - or, as the RUC slightly less

•stractly put it, recordings would make it more difficult for them to use interrogation to recruit police informers. Brooke's deputy, John Cope, also conceded that videoing interviews would not put a

I McNAMARA: charter for official harassment

cial harassment," he said. But the government has not

simply ignored the advice of Lord Colville, whose review was after all a deeply conser-vative affair. It continues to derogate from the European Court of Human Rights ruling against seven-day detention

without charge. It remains committed to the use of inter-nal exile. It is doing nothing about extra-judicial killings by the security forces, and those who pull the trigger are still free not to appear in the coroners' courts.

• MARTIN MORIARTY

1 1 1 1 i i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 » 1 1 1 1 1 m

P7 At last - revisionist history to be welcomed Peter Berresford Ellis' study of the Celtic empire

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 •

E D I T O R I A L

British responsibilities

EVERYONE at last month's Connolly Association trade union seminar 'Irish unity: strategies for con-sent' was agreed: debate of that quality is a rare

event at conferences on the Irish crisis. The barren slo-ganising that has done so much to ensure partition has been confined to the fringes of political discourse was notable only by its absence. Platform speakers and sem-inar delegates were determined to engage with each other's ideas.

A lot has been done in the trade union movement to draw the attention of Britain's working class to its rights and responsibilities as regards the national struggle closest to home. The detail brought together in the Association's new trade union information pack makes that clear. Northern Ireland trade unionists are no longer able to move next business when their union's annual conferences try to discuss the evils of partition. But there are still too many of them trying to ensure British trade unionists do not express an opinion on the crisis. That, as Sean Redmond said, is not on.

So what is to be done to build on what the seminar achieved? It is clear that with only a handful of unions supporting British disengagement, it would be the height of folly to try to commit the Trades Union Con-gress to withdrawal in the near future.

But this does not imply that concerned trade unionists should simply sit on their hands and wait for better times to raise the issue. In the meantime, every effort should be made to foster understanding of every,aspect of the crisis at every level of the movement. 1

That requires considerable efforts, and considerable resources. The Connolly Association is pledged to ex-pand its trade union work, and its achievements in win-ning the backing of local government officersjf NALGO and railworkers' RMT for last month's seminar, i n addi-tion to the many trades councils that lent their support, shows what can be done. •

But trade unionists need their own structures within which to work. The business of co-ordination both.be-tween themselves and with their sister unions in Ire-land dictates that they organise the campaign'among themselves. There is no better time than now to begin to put such structures into place. i MM

IRISH DEMOCRAT: journal of th<> Connolly Association EDITORIAL BOARD: Gerard Curran, Doris Daly (books), Conor Foley (news), Martin Moriarty (production), Peter Mulligan PUBLISHED BY: Connolly Publications Ltd., 244-246 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1. Tel: 071-833 3022 PRINTED BY: Ripley Printers (TU) Ltd., Nottingham Road, Ripley, Derbyshire. Tel: 0773-743621

NEWS

Subscribe! <An annual subscription to the Irish Democrat only coats £7.50 anywhere in Britain and the Six fiounties. Just fill in theformend return.to the address below wtth<yot<«fpayment.

Alternatively, why not bua—iu-a«puter saUer to friends and colleagues? Older however many you*hinlvyou can ̂ handle - we onlf aak you pay for the papers*hat*ou actually sell.

NAME

ADDRESS

Postcode

Please send me : • 10 copies • 5copies • 1 copy

Return with cheque to: 244/46 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8JR I

Election of first woman president poses chal lenged teft

So here's to her "••4 . • * i;

SHE did not seem to have a chance at the start, but Fian-na Fail's Brian Lenihan's being caught out in lies about phone-calls to the

President handed Mary Robinson the presidency of Ireland.

For Brian Lenihan it was a case of a spoofer being caught in his own spoofing. He nonetheless got the lar-gest single block of support, at 44 per cent of first preference votes. But the distribution of the second preferen-ces of Fine Gael's Austin Currie gave Mrs Robinson 53 per cent overall, as against 47 per centfinal vote for Leni-han.

It was a famous victory. There was jubilation in the Labour and Workers Party camp. Mrs Robinson, although she had resigned from Labour over the Anglo-Irish Agreement, was the official Labour Party candidate, sup-ported also by the Workers Party. The middle-class liberal element in Irish society was also pleased, for the President elect has a long record as a lawyer championing issues such as women'srights, divorce and fa ir play for lesbians and gay men. Her ma-jority consisted of the Labour Party-

Workers Party vote, the liberal middle class vote, and a substantial women's vote cutting across all par-ties.

Her election vindicated Labour leader Dick Spring's insistence on contesting the Presidential election in the first place, which otherwise Fian-na Fail and Fine Gael might have agreed to let go uncontested, as has been the case on the last two occa-sions. Spring said at the outset that he would stand himself if necessary to force an election, for Labour had enough Dail seats to entitle them to nominate a candidate.

The most positive aspect of the Presidential election is the trauma which coming third has caused in Fine Gael, the most reactionary party in the Irish state. A week after the election it led to Alan Dukes's forced resignation as party leader. Dukes was the technocrat economist who took over Fine Gael from Garret Fitz-Gerald.

But his party's problems go deeper than any leader. Dukes wanted Fine Gael to appeal to the liberal middle class, thereby holding open the door to coalition with Labour and the

But no flowers for TOPPLED by a very British coup, Mrs Thatcher was forced to resign .last month after 11 years presi-ding over the destruc-tion of the British economy.

it was simply a mat-ter of style, said the Tory men in grey suits: political sub-stance didn't come into It.

Not quite true. Mrs Thatcher had become isolated from the federal Europeans In the Tory party, and was even threatening a referendum on the desirability of mon-etary union.

It was left to one of the architects of the Anglo-Irish Agree-ment, Sir Geoffrey Howe, to open up for all to see the depth of the Tory split on na-tional sovereignty In the European Com-munity in his resigna-tion speech last month.

She is already pas-sing inot history. But whatever else she will be remembered for, it will not be for her Irish policy. She it was who ordered the SAS to go in for the kill in Gibral-tar.

She it was who re-jected political status

for the H-block hunger strikers with her Infamously tauto-logical refrain: "A crime is a crime is a crime."

And throwing out the conclusions of the 1984 New Ireland Forum, she said: "A united Ireland was one solution. That is out. A second solu-tion was the con-federation of the two states. That is out. A third solution was joint authority. That is out."

Mrs Thatcher was no part of any solu-tion. And now she is out.

Workers Party, both of which Ihesje days are also cultivating a liberal rather than left-wing image.

The trouble is that too many aile chasing after the same liberal middle ground. Fine Gael risked losing it$ more traditional support in the pret-cess. The Progressive Democrats toi> are appealing to the same eieme~J

For the 'leff there is the obvic danger that in targeting the mkk class support base of FineGaeli the PDs, Labour and the WP1 leave the working class still solidly with Fianna Fdil.

Attracting Fianna Fail's working class support has always been the challenge for the Irish left. For the greatest strength of Fianna Fdil has been that it gets the votes of most workers and trade unionists. That is because it appeals to because their national sentiment. The 'left' can only win the working class by being at once more 'national' and republi-can than Fianna F£il, while offering social and economic policies seen as relevant to the workers' interests. There is little sign yet of Ireland's left parties appreciating this basic lesson.

• ANTHONY COUGHLAN

for the CA -THE Connolly Association r<j has to pay its biHajuetllke t| everyone else. And .Hkai(l everyone else's bills, our's keep going up/'Sb pifase rush your donations in. The latest batch is very welcome, r r

but nowhere near enough! Thanks to: Iff Keane £5,

Stepney UCATT £10, A Hogg ir £6.50, T Byrne £20, in mem- ' ory of Elsie O'DowlIng from D Belgrave E2, C O S £5,**^ Twomey £10.64, A Jeseemey d £1, E Taunton £1, E Mulligan £5.50, R Rossiter £20, A McNally 50p, O Donohue £2.50.

" >r1

Mountjoy Martyrs Memorial Dinner 7.30 for 3pm, Saturday 8 December Irish Centre, Camden Square, NW1

Guest of honour: Sean Redmond, Trade Unionists for Irish Unity and Independence

4tombera*re limited, so advance booking is strongly recommended Tickets: £16.50 troirtl/lountjoy martyrs memo-rial dinner, Connolly Association, 844-246 Gray's inn Road, lodon WC1

London Connolly Association

*Open meeting

Endino the Cold War >j

division of Europe Whal type of security striH

' we need?

Rosemary Bechles General se< i etai British Peace Ac

8pm Wednesday' 12 Decei Miirc. moi Strt1 ' Oeni'i i>n» 62 Marchmoni Street. I ondon WC

Neatest tuiji 1 Ku Eusl

I R I S H D E M O C R A T D e c e m b e r t t f l p r j e '2

• i t i i M l i » l M H I W

-

. . . . . . — officially op-ened last month, making avail eWe to researchers the maat comprohcncive collection of aaatji.enftlaHilstory and affairs

Hyland of the Man-chaster Irish In Britain Reave* eentaHon Group spoke on the Weh codeetkm, which Includes

lanri, several hundred bio-

Labour historian John sa*HM 35BSS38E* which a plaque was unveiled on thfrdoorof the Meh Roam in the

i handaome Victorian building on I The Creecent, Salford, which

houses die library. This hand-V some piece of glasswork, crafted

by Sol Garson, shows the Irish hatpsuriounded by the slogan of the 1798 rebellion: "It Is new

--'"-̂ ''-̂ riai-'Whrtll k* hanitrl n• Strang ana snail oe neara.

Ruth Joint founder of the

eodology of the countiy. being added to ~ ' new material ofsignificance which la puhllahed to keep It up todate and already contains Tim Pat Coogan's recent IHe of Col-line, Fr Raymond Hurray's book on the SA* Bob Purdie's study of the civil rights movement end Hinton's book on the Irish Lan-

AMtf ltehan for his work on the a MBlu Uon and Anthony Cough-

Among those present at the opening were Jimmy MoGIII, Pat KH*»y, MichaelHerbert and Mall W>*er from Manchester, David GranvMefrom Sheffield andBar-

Coughian Inspects what's a v a i l s in the Msh Room at the Working Class Movement Library

AS A Scottish socialist, I cannot agree 1 nth-Peter Latham's high praise for . Utfoin CMuircheartaigh's pamph-] et Squaring With Reality - A Socialist 'kw Of The Nationalities Question

i Irish Democrat, November 1990). Whilethere are some good things in

f j tor me they are vitiated by other (Contradictions. For example, he cor-] ectly, deserves the supranational < haracter of the EC, but then goes on t > put it all down to 'Supranational-i im', which he says is the "ideology Ofthe capitalist class today". And this after stating categorically that "Na-tionalism is not anideology", but that 'Isupranationalisn is the most refined kind of bourgeois nationalism . L? jr J_ In

Again, the author states that "the Labour Party represents the true na-tional interests of the Scottish people", Thisisa.bizarre claim. The author seems unaware that the La-bjour Party has promised a Scottish parliament since the 1945 General Election through to the present, but Has never seriously attempted to de-liver, and few Scots now believe that it ever will. A main reason why they won't do so - and I am sure Irish Democrat readers are well aware - is that the Labour Party's motivation is Labourism and not Socialism; ie it operates within a capitalist context and- British state framework. That being the case, Labour can never rep-resent the national interests of the Scottish people.

The author's difficulty with defini-tions means that the pamphlet should be read with great care. He seems uncertain about the difference between nationalism, chauvinism,, imperialism jingoism, and fascism. He uses these terms at times as though they were synonomous or ex-pressions one of the other. The result is considerable contusion. But Irish Democrat readers will I'm sure come to their own conclusions. Personally, I prefer the view of Politicus (Irish Democrat November 1990) where he urges the left in each country to champion national democracy and

independence in an international campaign in- defence of national-democracy and the nation stater keeping in mind of course that'Ire-land andScotland have yet to achieve national democracy!

BobMulholland Inverness

I WAS AMAZED to read in Peter Latham's ( review of Ant6in OMuirceartaigh's view of' the Na-tionalities Question (Irish Democrat, November 1990) his questioning of the contents of Scottish and Welsh Nationalisms on the basis that there are "no significant national divisions in Britain's* ruling class" and that "Scottish -and Welsh nationalism have the power to divide Britain's [sic] workers in the face of a powerful enemy." This is the same argument which has baeadised by non-demo-cratic, closet national-chauvinist and Stalinist 'socialists' against the struggle forselfKletermination in Ire-land. Has Peter Latham learnt noth-ing about the democratic deficiency of this kind: of view from the failure of Stalinism and the struggle of the nationalities for the democratic right to self-determination in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe? Scotland is a nation. It is an oppressed nation. It has the democratic right to self-determination; Genuine socialists support the right to se l f -determination as a principle, an ab-solute, precisely "in itself'.

That no significant section of the ruling class supports self-determ-ination for Scotland is an odd and opportunist argument for a socialist to adduce. There are some who would see in what the ruling class is opposing precisely reasons to sup-port it.

"Why seperate the militant tradi-tions of the Clyde and the Welsh val-leys from their fellows in English industry?" asks Peter. But who is it that has done this? The demand for

self-determination forScotland has been the catalyst f ^ ^ ^ t a ^ w ^ u -

England. The same question could be; has been, asked in relation tolre-lanch "Why seperatr the militant traditions of Dublin or Derry from itheir fellows in English industry." This is generally asked by those fel-lows in English industry with a per-spective like Peter's w h o d o not understand that this is a question of democracy and whothenproceedto try and separate-the militant' tradi-

their fellows in English indusfryr it is a question that should.be addmssed to our fellows in English industry, not to the militants of the Clyde, the Welsh valleys, Dublin or Deny. I had* thought by virtue of its name thaMhe Connolly Association and the frielt Democrat existed precisely to explain this toour fellows in English industry and' to- combat Angto^entric righ^ tism rather than re-apply > it to the struggle for die right to self-detetrrti-nation in Scotland or Wales.

Peter says there hay a been cases in Strathdyde where f^frt-wing^ actfv-ists have won support on a nationa-list ticket - a very worrying combination of forces. But has noth-ing like this never happened in Ire1

land? Of course it has. And has the association of Catholicism and Na-tionalism not been an equally wor-rying combination of forces? Of course it has. The point is that itis the failure of people who claim to be so-cialists to take on board struggles for the right to self-determination as democratic absolutes that leads to success for such worrying forces. When the combination of republican democrats with liberals and soriali&t democrats, of "Fianna Fiil grassroots with the constituencies of interest that elected Mary Robinson as Presi-dent, is the key combinationof politi-cal forces to be made now for the future of socialist republicanism1 in Ireland after the presidential'elec-tion, then it really is time that the

political understanding of James Connolly instead, of being stuck in the dogma of jdseph Stalin

JoeMurphy Birmingham

JOE MlflUWisofCouVse correct in his central point (/risfc Democrat No-vember) thfcf legislative inde-pendence without social reorganisation'does not- bring real freedom to-an oppressed country. But I disagree with him that James Connolly was wrong td take part in the 1916 rising because its avowed objective was not socialism.

Connolly -theorised an "Irish road td socialism* w « d i saw national in-dependence' as its first stage. The working cliiss should lead this struggle, enOiiting iton-socialtet al-lies, so wimdhg' support from be-yond their ranks How longthe stage might lasHvoUklsiKptindHott the bal-ance of class forces; indeed ft- was possible the revcrftitionaiy process might be conHtotHNfit, as we* have seen, to take just one example, in CUba.

In Ireland the process was stalled by the counter-revolution of 1922 and the imposition of two partioned and subordinate parliaments. But the fetters Britain had laid on the 26 county parliament were gradually loosened in thetumultiious struggles of the 1920& and '30s, culminating in Ireland's decision-to remain neutral in* the second world war. Labour maintained its abstention from the national struggle during this period, clearing the fieW"for de Valera's as-cendancy.

Neutrality was a visible demonstra-tion that the parliament i < the 26-counties had wrested sovereignty from Britain. In doing so'it had also gained a legitimacy in the eyes of the overwhelming majority of that state's population the IRA's 1948 General ArmyOtfMt prohibiting at-tacks on the state's institutions impli-citly recognised this. Sinn F£in took ;

the logical, but painful, next step of dropping abstentionism in 1986. Re-publicans ndW exjrfidtly acknow-ledge that, however much they disliked the rulers of the 26 counties, they are seen as the legitimate gov-ernment of the people they rule by the people they rule. Rhetorical abuse cannot change that.

This is the reason why we say sovereignty for the north of Ireland should be handed to Dublin. It will be up to them to then approach the northerners about how they wish to live together. If new structures arise out of the transformed situation then so be it. Ourtaksisto persuade our governme. . :o disengage from Ire-land on the basis of respect for Irish democracy, not out of a misguided belief that it will trigger a world rev-olution.

' It is necessary to emphasise this point against those who-say that the struggle for political independence in the whole of Ireland is a diversion from the "real struggle" for social-ism; which is often a cloak for closet unionists. I am sure Joe Murphy agrees that socialists should Support the independence struggle of art op-pressed nation. But I don't under-stand why he thinks they should not lead it?

Conor Foley London

Correction While every effort is made to ensure the Democrat gets its facts right, mis-takes do occasionally slip through. In last month's front-page article, 'Irish unity the only solution to the crisis', remarks in reply to the debate on whether or not the Labour Party should organise in the north of Ire-land made on behalf of the national executive by Ted OBrien of print union SOGAT were wrongly at-tributedtotheNationalCommunica-tions Union's T6ny Clarke.

The Irish Democrat apologises to both parties for any confusion caused by the mistaken attribution.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION TRADE UNION SEMINAR

W O R L D C O M M E N T BY P O L I T I C U S

The warmongers gather

AS AMERICA, backed up by Britain, masses her troops in the Arabian desert, the US military ar ; planning the most murderous, barbarous slaughter against the people of Iraq. Afraid of huge losses if they tackle Iraq's army in the field, the United States is planning

a high-tech rain of terror from the air - carpet bombing of Iraqi installations, mass slaughter of civilians, tons of napalm to flood desert tank emplacements. Al! in the hope of inducing the Iraqis to sue for peace within a few days.

Let no-one be so naive as to think that all this is out of zea! for enforcing international law - which Iraq's Saddam Hussein violated when he moved into Kuwait last August. That is just the excuse for America's rushing in. T h e real r e a s o n for the war preparations is that G e o r g e Bush - a m a n w i t h c l o s e po l i t i c s ! connec t ions to Texan o i l -weal th - s a w in t h e K u w a i t b u s i n e s s the ideal excuse to get a US base in Arabia for the first time ever. That way the US hopes, through its feudal satellites in the Gulf, to hold the richest oil fields in the globe for generations and prevent them being used to benefit the impoverished masses of the Arab w o r l d .

Powerful interests urge Bush to go to war. The oil companies love the crisis because it sends oil prices and their profits soar-ing. The arms makers, whose order books slumped with the end of the Cold War, are delighted to have them now filling up again. The Israelis are praying that the Americans will defeat their most powerful opponent among the Arabs.

South Africa's Nelson Mandela summed up the essence of the matter when he said recently in Paris: "The United Nations have enunciated very good principles. But I do not accept the hy-pocrisy of the West. When Reagan attacked Grenada the West remained silent. When they invaded Panama, the West was si-lent. Israel assassinates innocent defenceless Arabs in the occu-pied territories and there is no protest from the West."

It is the flagrant double standard which destroys the political and mora! case of the United States and its Allies. United Na-tions resolutions telling Israel to withdraw from the West Bank lie ignored for decades on the table, but everyone is expected to fall in behind UN resolutions on Kuwait just because it is the United States interest that they do. And the Russians go along because they want good relations with the US and because, as major oil-producers, price rises also benefit them.

But some people are beginning - maybe too late - to have sec-ond thoughts. Speaking at the World Climate Conference, Jor-dan's King Hussein said that a Gulf War could be an ecological and environmental disaster on a global scale. It would set Ku-wait's oil-fields ablaze and create a poisonous gas cloud of sul-phur, carbon monoxide and dioxide blackening the skies over Kuwait, Iraq, much of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iran and aggra-vating for a century the greenhouse effect.

"Almost a million soldiers face each other in the Gulf, bris-tling with sophisticated armaments, supported by thousands of advanced tanks and aircraft, and driven by a deadly combina-tion of human fear and political ferocity," the King said. If the US does badly in a war - which is quite possible - the Israelis might drop their nuclear weapons on Iraq. Whatever way it turned out the region would remain profoundly unsettled for a generation. America and her allies would be hated in quite new ways throughout the Arab world. And war could turn the im-pending Western economic recession into a mighty crash.

Germany and Japan are prevented from sending troops abroad by the peace constitutions imposed on them by the vic-torious Allies after World War 2. It is ironical to see Bush and Thatcher now accusing them of "peace-mongering"! It shows just how out of touch so-called statesmen can get.

The peaceful way forward is for an on-going all-round con-ference on the Middle East, to consider all territorial disputes in the area - Kuwait and Iraq, Palestinians and Israel, Syria and Le-banon. For they are all inter-connected by history and current re-ality. Saddam Hussein himself proposed such a course last August. Ideally, it should tackle also the rights of the Kurds, an-other festering problem of the area. The Kurdish nation has suf-fered almost as much injustice as the Palestinians. That way the Middle East could become a peace-zone, not a war-zone, over time.

If a Gulf war has not started by Christmas President Bush may be tempted to give the go-ahead in January. In America the growing anti-war movement makes him hesitate. That is why it is vital ^hat every humane and progressive person should do all they can to stop a war disaster.

Write to your MP to urge them to join the peace camp. Join the anti-war demonstrations organised by CND. Propose anti-war resolutions at your trade union branch, residents associ-ation or tenants association. Write to the newspapers protesting against war. Stand up and be counted while there may still be time.

Strategies for consent

THE NEXT Labour govern-ment will adopt a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland while retaining some emer-geacy legislation on the

statute books, establish a devolved assembly and launch a 'cultural rev-olution' to transform the totality of relationships within these islands, shadow Northern Ireland secretary Kevin McNamara told the Connolly Association seminar 'Irish unity: strategies for consent' last month.

"We cannot reconcile ourselves to a permanent emergency, nor to the no-tion that the emergency justifies each and every violation of human rights," he told delegates gathered at manufacturing union MSF's Cam-den head office.

"Issues such as the administration of justice, theoperation of emergency legislation, the PTA, plastic bullets, and stripsearching all demand clear and decisive action by a Labour gov-ernment," McNamara said.

Arguing that civil liberties could be improved in the absence of an "all-round political settlement" - he said that he was "an optimist about the prospects for reform" - McNamara said that "as long as the paramilitary campaigns of violence continue, it is likely that Northern Ireland is not going to enjoy the ideal standards of human rights which we would like to see."

He said Labour would adopt a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland by in-corporating the European Conven-tion on Human Rights into six-county law. That would "force the administration to thin in terms of long-term strategies rather than short-term expediency," he believed.

Establishing a devolved assembly would not entail a return to the Stor-mont of old, he.claimed. Arguing 'ac-tive citizenship' was needed for "the political, social and economic re-generation of the province", he said: "Reducing the dependency on Eng-lish ministers implies increasing the ability of all the people of Northern Ireland to exercise self-determina-tion and providing them with a fir-mer footing to exercise that

self-determination in association with the people of Ireland as a whole."

Labour's policy of harmonising the institutions throughout ireland re-quired "a transformation of the way governments on both sides of the border work," he said. "Even more fundamentally it requires substantial change in the way both parts of Ire-land are administered, and in the re-lations between the governors and the governed," he suggested.

"I hesitate to use the expression 'cultural revolution'," he said, "but it does indicate the kind of decentralis-ing, responsive political structures required if a peaceful and united Ire-land is to be brought into being."

IRISH Labour Party TD Emmet Stagg said that British Labour strategy was strong on concrete re-

form but hazy on the process of Irish unity.

"The main problem with this policy is that it assumes an automatic, logi-cal connection between internal re-form and inter-state co-operation and the resolution of the nationality conflict," he argued. He said there was no necessary link between co-operation, harmonisation and re-form of security policy and Irish unity.

Rejecting the claims of an alterna-tive strategy based on a British decla-ration of intent to withdraw, Stagg argued that there was "no necessary connection between the evacuation of the British administration in the North and Irish unity."

He said that there could be no unity without Unionists participation and consent. Arguing that the failure of the 1920 settlement was rooted in the failure of the Irish people to "nego-tiate and agree it between them-selves", Stagg proposed a third way to unity "in a process of active en-gagement of all the Irish people" on the basis of "equality, negotiation and consensus".

"Such a transforming process should involve not only repre-

sentatives of all Irish political parties and organisations, but also of other groups and institutions in society: the churches, trade unions, business and farmers' organisations, volun-tary and community groups," he said.

He also argued that both British and Irish claims to sovereignty over the Six Counties "should no longer be considered matters of principle." They should be put up for negotia-tion by the Irish people, he said.

LABOUR MP Clare Short argued the election of a Labour govern-ment would make history, be-

cause it would be the first government elected since partition committed to achieve Irish re-unifi-cation.

But she said that it va s vital for many more people in the trade union movement and the Parliamentary Labour Party to get involved in the debate. "The opposition to [Irish unity] will be vitriolic and will be violent," she warned. "There is no question about that and it can be de-stroyed, it can be blown offstream."

But a series of fact-finding delega-tions and a serious and informed de-bate could transform the prospects, she argued. The Time To Go! cam-paign had had some distinct suc-cesses, she said. "But the price of the domination of the stridency of the voices from thew Trotskyist groups was a big price," she said.

"We have to make a bigger push, we have to keep together, we have to find places where those who are seri-ous about bringing about re-unifica-tion rather than sloganising about revolutions can talk together and learn from each other," she said.

Arguing that "history was moving on this one," she said that time was short and the stakes were high, but "if we do well, we're talking about the beginning of the end."

• Seminar r»port: MARTIN MORIARTY

• SHORT: If we do well we're talking about the beginning of the end

IRISH UNITY: STRATEGIES FOR CONSENT

(Trade union rights and responsibilities

IT IS absolutely imperative that

British trade unionists discuss the Irish crisis, NALGO metropolitan

[London] district secretary Chris Eades told the seminar,

jl "The trade union movement as a whole has a very important role to play in breaking the silence on Ire-land in this country and getting in-volved in the debate about the campaign for a solution," he said.

I Having just returned from the "very successful and very produc-tive" NALGO delegation to both parts of Ireland, Eades outlined the beginnings of a British trade union strategy to legitimise discussion and develop the debate.

This had to be informed by the views of irish trade unionists, he said, but not constrained by the difficulties trade unionists in the north in par-ticular faced. "Very crucially, on the question of unity, when we raised it with trade unions in the North of Ireland, although they did not wish to comment directly on our policy [for Irish unity by peaceful means], there was an acknowledgement, al-beit expressed in different ways in different places, that as British trade unionists we have a democratic right to discuss the issue," he said.

NALGO wanted to develop the dis-

cussion both inside the union itself -the next metropolitan district inter-national school would be devoted to Ireland - and within the wider move-ment.

"How we get involved is crucial," he argued. "There isn't any room for knee-jerk posturing. The situation is far, far too serious for that and there is far too much at stake for that sort of approach."

Arguing against raising British withdrawal immediately at TUC congress - "losing a motion of that sort would set us back a very long way and would set the work of indi-vidual trade unions back" - he said that there was scope in the interim to develop the debate around civil liber-ties

BRITISH trade unionists had a problem, said Sean Redmond, speaking to the seminar on be-

half of Trade Unionists for Irish Unity and Independence: who do they listen to in Ireland - trade union-ists who don't want the issue raised, or trade unionists like those in TUIUI who say "get involved"?

"I appreciate fully that there are great problems for trade unionists in

Cause for concern

NORTHERN IRELAND is "one of the worst civil liberties prob-lems in Europe," Andrew Pud-

dephat told the seminar. The National Council for Civil

Liberties general secretary said that between them, the Prevention of Ter-rorism and emergency Provisions Acts "make a very formidable ap-paratus of repression".

In an exhaustive account of existing emergency legislation in Britain and the Six Counties, Puddephat detailed how the law was being used to trawl for information and harass oppo-nents of the British presence. Up to 1988, he said, 45,000 people were de-tained under the PTA at ports of entry for up to 12 hours. "It is hard to believe 45,000 people are suspected of being terrorists when they entered the country," he argued. And of the 6,430 people arrested under the Act up until 1988, 5,586 - 87 per cent -were not charged, 300 were ex-cluded, 203 were charged under the PTA and 343 were charged with non-PTA offences.

In Northern Ireland, normal judi-cial processes had ceased to exist, he said. NCCL's own research into the juryless Diplock courts has revealed that "the majority of the cases being brought before juryless trials have no connection with paramilitary acti-vities whatsoever."

Harassment of nationalists by army and police was commonplace, he said. The prime arrest targets were Catholic males aged between 16 and 44, and with three-quarters of all ar-rests to 1986 in this category, one in four Catholic men had a reasonable chance of being arrested under emer-gency legislation, he said.

House searches by the army in na-tionalist areas were becoming still

more brutal, he revealed. Members of the parachute regiment were leaving houses they had turned upside down in Belfast 's Lower Falls giving women's arms a sharp flick - the 'parachute flick' - which has broken wrists.

"That kind of harassment and that kind of level of activity by the se-curity forces under the powers given to them by theses Acts has effectively rather than eliminating political vi-olence, institutionalised political vi-olence in Northern Ireland," he said.

BELFAST SOLICITOR Kevin McCorry, the convenor of the Belfast-based Campaign for

Democracy, put some faces to the statistics. He said that when a recent client of his, a member of public em-ployees' union NUPE at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, answered back when he was insulted by a British army patrol while on his way to buy a packet of cigarettes with a friend, the soldiers fired plastic bul-lets and live ammunition at the crowd which had gathered. His friend was hit by a plastic bullet fired at point-blank range, and he was headbutted by a soldier wearing his helmet with the visor down. The man was charged with disorderly beha-viour and assaulting a soldier. "The question is," McCorry asked: "What has this conference got to offer that NUPE member? What activity can people here get together on that will end the situation where that sort of incident occurs almost nightly across the towns of Norther Ireland?"

McCorry argued that it was im-possible to discuss Northern Ireland within an exclusively civil liberties

Northern Ireland," he said. "If people in the tarred union movement in Northern Ireland encounter diffi-culties about raising the partition question, fair enough. But what I do object to is if they stop people raising the issue here in Britain in the trade union movement. I don't think that is on."

Welcoming the seminar's orienta-tion towards the unions, Redmond said: "Any solidarity movement here must be based on the trade union movement because in the trade union movement there is a solid basis for it and it's in the trade union move-ment that people understand a cam-paign has to be built step by step and there are no short cuts."

Calling for a programme of action in the movement, he said it was im-portant that there was co-ordination between trade unionists in Britain and trade unionists in Ireland.

Criticising current Labour policy, he argued that the 'unity by consent' formula was undemocratic and unre-alistic.

It was unrealistic because "what we're saying to the Unionists is: if you want to change, fair enough, but if you don't want to change, that's okay as well."

It was undemocratic because, in the

words of the 1984 New Ireland Forum report - "probably the most authoritative survey of the situation in recent years" - unity by consent had been "extended into an effective Unionist veto on any political change affecting the exercise of nationalist rights and the form of government of Northern Ireland. This fails to take account of the problem, namely the imposed division of Ireland which created an artificial majority in the North," the report said.

ANDY GIBB, secretary of the rel-tast branch of the National Communications Union and a

member of the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, spoke in his personal capacity and for the first time public-ly on the issue. He argued that con-sent to Irish unity should be assembled through a number of dif-ferent campaigns.

"Trade union activists know full well that we don't organise or fight on the basis of readily-available ma-jorities," he argued. "We have to fight to win a majority for a given campaign at any particular point in time."

REDMOND: get involved

Approximately one-quarter of the Protestant population would need to be added to the Catholic population in the Six Counties to achieve a ma-jority "that might constitute the breaking point laid down in the La-bour Party's policy document f7b-wards a United Ireland]," he said "That being the case, it's the respon-sibility of the Labour Party to pro-ac-tively enlist the consent of such a minimal fraction."

- (left to right): Campaign for democracy convenor Kevin McCorry, session chairperson Siobhan Crozier, Fair Employment Trust director Oliver Kearney and NCCL general secretary Andrew Puddephat

framework. "The society that was created by the 1921 Government of Ireland Act can never be given a democratic validity," he said.

There was a crisis in the six-county statelet. "Civil liberties are not the cure for some sick patient: their ab-sence shows just how sick the patient really is," he said.

The removal of the right to silence represented an attack on a fun-damental legal principle, he said, that the state recognised that it could only obtain information from its citizens with their consent.

And the erosion of jury trial was equally damaging. Trial by jury was the state's recognition that it had to offer its case to the judgement of its citizens, he said.

Concluding with an examination of current Labour policy, McCorry drew the seminar's attention to the existence of an "entrenched military-bureaucratic element which has been able to determine policy to an extent that would make the hair on your head stand on end." Warning that it would fight back against any attempt by a future Labour government to action Irish unity by consent, he chal-lenged seminar delegates: "That leaves the question - where is the mass struggle, the informed, conoen-

trated pressure g o i n g to come from?"

FAIR Employment Trust director and MacBride Principles cam-paigner Oliver Kearney catalo-

gued the failures of anti-discrimination legislation to cre-ate a society of equal opportunity.

Fourteen years after the Fair Em-ployment Act was introduced, there still existed the "pervasive, struc-tured, endemic, anti-Catholic dis-crimination which has characterised the Northern Ireland state since its inception," he said.

There was no single area of the economy in public or private hands in which there was not "gross and massive" Catholic disadvantage.

And there were no levels of unem-ployment in Britain and Northern Ireland outside the British inner cities comparable to Ballymurphy - where it is running at 86 per cent - or Divis Flats - where it is 65 per cent.

Praising the recent local govern-ment union NALGO delegation to Ireland - they were "courageous" and "generous", he said - he urged "every element of the labour move-ment in Britain to begin to inform itself about the role being played by

the trade union movement, the Northern Ireland civil service and the British government in the mainten-ance of economic apartheid."

In an unrelenting attack on the trade unions, he said the British la-bour movement was deeply in-volved "because most of your unions have affiliated unions in the north of Ireland whkh, with some very hon-ourable exceptions, are part and par-cel of the system of maintaining the structured system of anti-Catholic discrimination which has prevailed for so long."

Voices were raised in discussion in themovement'sdefence.MSFofficial Joe Bowers recounted how, after re-marks in support of Irish unity had been attributed to him in a report of a conference in Glasgow, copies of the newspaper story had been posted ' throughout East Belfast with obvious intent: trade unionists in Northern Ireland operated in especially diffi-cult circumstances, he argues. And Andy Gibb said that the movement had been "pushing as best it can, as and when it can - or the progressives in the movement have - on questions like the PTA, plastic bullets, strip-searching, Diplock courts, political vetting, fair employment and the police authority."

1 9 9 0 p a g e S

•mx

IRISH PRISONERS IN BRITISH JAILS

THE Connolly Assciation does not support the use of violence but we understand the conditions in which it arises in the north of

Ireland. The vast majority of people serving sen-tences for activities arising out of the conflict would never have seen the inside of a prison were it not for the political situation that exists in that statelet - ultimate responsibility for which rests with the British government. Irish prisoners serving sentences in English prisons suffer a particular hardship through isolation from their families most of whom can rarely af-ford to make the trip over to visit them. We are reprinting their names and addresses in this issue so that Irish Democrat readers may send them Christmas cards. The Birmingham Six have been listed separately but the main list in-cludes unconvicted remand prisoners and others w h o are clearly innocent victims of miscarriages of justice.

Martina Anderson Life William Armstrong Life Liam Baker Eddie Butler Hugh Doherty Martin Doherty Vincent Donnelly Brenda Dowd Harry Duggan Dessie Ellis Noel Gibson Billy Grimes Paul Holmes Peter Jordan Paul Kavanagh Brian Keenan Sean Kinsella Pearse McAughley Remand Ronnie McCartney Life John McComb 17 yrs LiamMcCotter 17 yrs Gerard McDonnell Life Siobhan McKane William McKane Michael McKenny t

Patrick McLaughlin Life Patrick McLaughlin 16 yrs Danny MacNamee 25 yrs Patrick Magee Stephen Nordone Paul Norney Joe OConnel l Kevin Barry O'Donnell

Remand Ella O D w y e r Thomas Quigley Liam Quinn Nessan Quinlevan Peter Sherry Natalino Vella Roy Walsh Judith Ward

24 yrs Life Life Remand Life Life Life Remand Life 10 yrs Life 14 yrs Life 21 yrs Life

Remand Remand 16 yrs

Life Life Life Life

Life Life Life Remand Life 15 yrs Life Life

Durham Parkhurst Long Lartin Frankland Long Lartin Brixton Full Sutton Full Sutton Full Sutton Brixton Frankland Frankland Parkhurst Full Sutton Full Sutton Long Lartin Albany Brixton Gartree Frankland Full Sutton Leicester Brixton Brixton Frankland Gartree Leicester Parkhurst Leicester Gartree Long Lartin Gartree

Brixton Durham Full Sutton Albany Brixton Parkhurst Leeds Gartree Durham

D25134 119085 464984 338637 338636

274064 758662 338638 MV3051 879225 647 119034 H22338 L31888 B26380 758661

463799 851715 LB83693 B75882

L46486

LB83694 L48616 B75881 758663 863532 338635

MV0489 D25135 B69204 49930

B75880 B71644 119083 994466

Birmingham Six: Billy Power Richard Mcllkenny Paddy Hill Gerry Hunter Hugh Callaghan John Walker

Gartree Gartree Gartree Gartree Long Lartin Long Lartin

Addresses: HMP Parkhurst, Newport Isle of Wight, TO30 5NX HMP Albany, Newport Isle of Wight, P030 5RS HMP Long Lartin, South Littleton, Evesham, Worcs. WR11 5TZ HMP Gartree, Leicester Rd, Market Harborough, Leics LE16 7RP HMP Leicester, Welford Rd, Leicester LE2 7AJ HMP Frankland, Finchale Ave, Brasside, Durham DH1 5YD HMP Durham, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HU HMP Full Sutton, York Y 0 4 1 PS HMP Brixton, Jebb Ave, Brixton, London SW2 5XF

it should not be necessary to use prison num-bers for the Birmingham Six. We have not been able to obtain all the numbers for remand prison-ers. Please write 'remand' next to their names when addressing envelopes.

Come Out Ye Black and Tans

just to show that revisionism is not an entirely neiv phenomenon. Seoinin = West Brit/toady.

I was born in a Dublin street where the loyal drums did beat As those loving English feet they tramped allover us And every single night when my Da' would come Hght He'd invite the neighbours outside wi th this chorus

CHORUS Come out ye Black and Tans, come out and fight me like a man Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders Tell her how the IRA made you run like hell away From the green and lovely lakes of Killyshannon

Well tell her how you slew them old Arabs two by two Like the Zulus they had spears and bows arrows How bravely you faced one with a sixteen pounder gun And frightened them poor natives to their n.arrow

Come let us hear you tell how you slandered great Ffentell When you thought him well and truly persecuted Where are the sneers andjeers you so loudly let us hear When our heros of '16 were' executed

Well the day is coming fast* now the time is here at last When each Seoinin will be cast out before us And should there be the need then my sons will say "God speed" With a verse or two of Stephen Behan's chorus

• BRENDAN BEHAN

Ireland, Mother Ireland Dear land of love and beauty, to you our hearts are wed, To you in loving duty do we ever bow our head. Oh perfect loving mother, your exile children all Across the thundering seas to you in fond devotion call

CHORUS When we sigh, we hear you! When you weep, we weep. In your hours of gladness How our pulses leap! Ireland, Mother Ireland, Let what may befall, Ever shall we hold you Dearest, best of all.

Dear land far o'er the ocean, beloved land of ours, May your days be sunny and your ways a way of love. Meanwhile, though we are scattered o'er alien vnl and hill, All the love you gave to us we'll keep and cherish still.

Birmingham Six i-A

This song by The Pogues was banned in November 1988 under the new reporting restrictions on the grounds that in questioning whether Irish people were treated fairly by the British judteiat'system it

was "supporting, soliciting, or invitingvupport" for organisations covered by theban

There were six men in Birmingham, in Guildfer. They were picked upand tortured and framed Ujn«.cr«o And the filth got promotion but they're still ddingfiifre For being Irish in the wrong place and atthe wrong'time

In Ireland they put you away in the Maze In England they hold you for several long days God help you if ever you're caught on these shores And the coppers need someone and they walk through that door

You'll be counting years, first five, then ten Growing old in a lonely hell Round the walls of this stinking cell From wall to wall and back again

May the whores of the Empire lie awake in their beds And sweat as they count out the sins on their heads While over in Ireland eight more men lie dead Kicked down and shot in the back of the head

• TERRY WOODS

On the wings of the wind o'er the dark rollingdeep Angels are coming to watch o'er thy sleep Angeslare coming to watch over thee So list to the wind blowing over the sea

CHORUS Hear the wind blow love, hear the windblow Lean your head over and hear the windblow

Oh the winds of the night may your fury be crossed May no-one whose dear to our Ireland be lost!' Blow the wind gently calm be the foam Shine the light brightly and guide them back home

The Curragks are sailing way out on the blue Laden with herrings of silvery hue Silver the hering and silver the sea And soon there'll be silver for baby and me

, t

le Seamus O'Cionnfhaola

1. Is cuma Horn: I do not care 2. Is cuma dhom: It is no affair of mine 3. Nach cuma dult: Is it not equal to you 4. Is cuma duit: It is no affair of yours 5. Ba chuma linn: We did not care 6. Nl g i duit 6 do dheanamh anols go h-6irithe: You need not do it Just now 7. D'imlg an capall ar 6lgln air: The horse went wild on him 8. Is maith mar a tharla: It happened fortunately '"" 9. Seachain tig an ttibhirne n6 is Mmaigh IS beatha dhuK: Avoid the alehouse or you shall end up living on barnacles 10. Is goire cabhair De na an doras: God's helpis nearer than the door 11. Do dhulne gan nAire is fusa a ghnb a dheanamh: It is aasy to do business with the one without shame 12. Is fearr a bheith id aonar na i ndroch chuluadar. It is better being alone than in company

I R I S H D E M O C R A T D e c e m b e r 1 9 9 0 p a g e 6

At last - a welcome 'revision' of history from the standpoint of the Celts

Nepos were Celtic speakers. But the Celts' own tradition was a rich oral one, passed down by druids and bards, who transmitted their myths, legends, history, genealogical lists and law codes from generation to generation. A few inscriptions survive in Gaulish, but when the Irish started writing in the vernacu-lar they left us the third oldest written language in Europe, after Greek and Latin.

Celtic metalwork in bronze, iron and gold still astonishes us for its craftsmanship and beauty. Some Celtic people maintained inns for travellers and hospitals for the sick. Many Roman roads were orig-nally Celtic - the Romans laying stone on wooden foun-dations already there. Celtic social relations had a strong democratic element. Women could become chiefs and ru-lers as well as men. We have a narrow view of our past if we do not know such things.

Anyone reading Berresford Ellis's survey of the first 1,000 years of Celtic history will henceforth see Europe's his-tory in quite a new way. It is the measure of this book's im-portance and makes it essen-tial reading for anyone seeking to understand the forces making the peoples of these islands.

This splendid volume calls for a follow-up which would give a comparative survey of the history of Celtic peoples over the next 1,000 or 1,5000 years. There can surely be no better person than the indefa-tigable Berresford Ellis to undertake it.

spoken for seven centuries tistic achievements were from around 400 BC to around mostly based on copying the 300 AD. The Galatians who better work of the Greeks and disappointed St. Paul of Tar- others. Classical European sus, as his famous Epistle to history - written in the main by them showed, were Celts, academics for the administra-Bohemia, now part of Cze- tive and business classes of

i choslovakia, took its name Europe's 19th century colonial from the Celtic Boii and ar- powers - has admired and chaeologists have discovered exalted Rome, which they saw outlying Celtic settlements as as the model for all later im-farNorthasBreslauandasfar perialisms. Celtic history is East as Cracow in Poland. anti-Rome. It is Europe as

' In 390 BC the Celts under seen from the standpoint of Brennos sacked Rome in its the underdogs, not the con-

i early days. The Greek Alex- queror. anderthe Great made treaties Berresford Ellis tells us much

, with the Balkan Celts in 334 about Roman-Celtic relations. ,' BC. Celtic chieftains /ere One example gives the typical . among Hannibal's leading al- flavour. Maidon Castle in Dor-

lies when he was campaigning set is a giant Celtic ring-fort against Rome in Italy in the that was besieged by the Ro-years around 200 BC. Sparta- mans during the Claudian cus, the leader of the 73 BC conquest of Britain. Excava-slave revolt against Rome, tions there showed that the

Anthony Couahlan form the headwaters of the was probably a Thracian Celt. Romans slaughtered the be-PeterBerresford fclliS, The Celtic Rhine, Rhone and Danube - Many of his followers were sieged once they broke in. The ElWire, Jhe Fkst Mtilenium of the names of the three rivers certainly Celtic-speaking. The skeletons were found tumbled Celtic History, 1000'BC - 51 AD, are Celtic. They were a tribal later Egyptian Pharaohs on- in a shallow grave. Most had C0nst^;LQnd0ft, fl&.95 or clannish people living in ployed Celtic mercenaries. It been stabbed in the back or

" " farming communities. wasVercingetorix,chieftainof slain from behind. One !. Around 1000 BC, the time of the Averni, who united the woman who had her arms pi-

•!'•••: the Middle Bronze Age, they Celtic clans of Gaul in a revolt nioned behind her back had

T|HE LATE Desmond beganto expand. Probably the which almost put paid to the been killed by several blows to Greaves usedsay that first wave of Celtic-speaking career of Julius Caesar and her head. It was possible to one of the intellectual settlers crossed the sea to Ire- Boudicaa (or Boadicea) of the deduce that many of the blows challenges of our time land around then. They be- Iceni people resisted the had been struck after the was the writing of a came iron-users, which gave Roman Conquest of Britain, bodies receiving them were

history of; €uippe from the them superiority over the Fortunately the Romans never already dead. Standpoint of,the Celtic peo- people they moved in on. By conquered Ireland - which is One of the reasons the Ro-ples. In this bqokthe historian the fourth century before one of the most important mans nearly succeeded in re-Peter Berresford Ellis makes a Christ they had moved West things to appreciate about writing the history of the Celts giant step towards doing just and South-West into Gaul and Irish history. was that the Celtic religion that. Britain and what is nowadays What thugs the Romans placed a ban on making writ-

The Celts were the first Spain and Portugal. They were! The main things they ten records. Not that the Celts North European ;people to went South into Italy, East to- were good at were military were illiterate. Many Celts emerge on the stage of re- wards Russia and South-East campaigning and civil admin- spoke and wrote in Latin, corded history. Their origin into the Balkans and Asia istration - and the licensed Greek and other languages, was in the area of South Ger- Minor. In Galatia, now Central conquest, robbery and rapine The Latin writers Catullus, many and Switzerland which Turkey, a Celtic language was these made possible. Their ar- Varro, Cinna and Cornelius

Bobbie Heatley Northern Ireland-The Thatcher Years, Frank Gaffikin and Mike Morrissey, Zed Books, £?pbk

THIS BOOK brings together from different* published sources a lot of i statistics which enable an > assessment to be made of r

the impact of Thatcher-Tory policies on Northern Ireland. Such Is the inade-quacy of the statistics that one can only sympathise with the authors In their at-tempts to elucidate the compliceted reality.

Nevertheless they make a good stab at it, confirm-ing with quantitative back-ing what was probably ! already well known Intui-tively: Northern Ireland's relative disadvantage has not been redressed. n

There are interesting see-tions on the economy .pov-erty, urban policy, Inner-urban renewal and: reform In the Northern Ire-i; land Health Service. For Northern Ireland specifi-cally the authors Implore: this free-booting (free-marketeerlng) government to countenance a regional strategic economic plant! for the area.

But they don't attempt to suggest what ought 4o<*e done in the faceofthis rani fusat. This failure -arises from an attitude revealed in the introduction to thai' book. Northern Ireland's' predicament arises from { its colonialist subjection to Britain. While almeatK everyone recognises this to be the truth, the authors consider it to be too sim-plistic. They Introduce some trivial points which they profess to think re-futes the rotten - for in-stance, the relatively high levels of public spending. But points such as these do not disprove the imper-ialistic relationship.

Sceptical readers might suspect that the Introduc-tion of "complications" such as these is a not too clever way In which would-be lefties are enabled to justify (to themselves) their standing aside from the actual on-going struggles.

In the opinion of the auth-ors, "...both the Nationalist and the Unionist perspec-tives on Northern Ireland r benefit from an uncompli-cated analysis from which it is relatively easy to pres-cribe appropriate solu-tions." The "complication" disbars the authors from arriving at their solution. This is a master flaw of this book.

Peter Berresford Ellis he and his wife decided to bringing it together in such Betty Mac Dermot, O Buairc of launch their own publishing a readable form. Bmfne, Drumlin Publications house called DrumlinPubli- In the 'Heroes Gallery' of Ltd., Co. Leitrim, Ireland. No cations Ltd., from Nure, the Hermitage in Leningrad, price stated. Manorhamlltonn, Co. Lei- I was always fascinated by

: trim. the portrait of one Joeeph O The first work they have Rourke. What was an O

• N THESEDAYS-ofmer- ^ o i r ! ^ f t ' s h S o ^ Sthe h a l S M^a^usslan^o?

s a s s a a B s S W M S I S S I ishing conglomerates, in China and educated In a Joseph KornlHevltch O

• it Is afwaystiicelo eee French Convent. She be- Rourke who was one of the the launch W a new,-small came the wife of Dermot Russian generals who and independent publish- Mac Dermot, an O Rualrc turned back Napoleon's in-Ing company. Proinslas O descendent who styled vadfng armies. Mis greet-

teacher,

& ^ J U r o i ^ f o l o w i ^ t h e for Jacobite defeat booklVtV on the 'Grei i

Hunger' and 'Land Leeflue', a * ^ » f e » m b » T 1 * t 0 i> a g e

DE JE VOUS

BIRMINGHAM SIX

IRISH V THE BRITISH

A tale of youthful resourcefulness by DONAL KENNEDY

The day I H=fT

I THiNK i t . ^ s Cgptuctap who I firstremarS^fl that W h e n j i e Old • Bill look young" the observer is I getting long o r M e toytjr.' Bisi t ing Dublin recently I spotted a

couple of garda Superintendents. They looked mere striplings, gos-soons who should have been at school, not abroad in the city at that lime of day. * Then I remembered that most Du-bliners are under 25 and weren't even born when I left for England in 1964, and was startled to realise that 1 am twice the average age.

To most citizens then, anything be-fore Colour TV belongs wit the era of Finn McCool - when Ireland was peopled be Giants and Fairies, and winsome maidens lilted sweetly to the strumming of harps.

So, before these eyes dim further, I think I should relate for posterity an unsung episode from that heroic era - The Day I Played For Ireland.

It must have been about 1954. Cer-tainly it was before Bill Haley and James Dean called into being the sep-aratist generation of teenagers.

Long t rouse r s , not long ha i r , denoted the generation gap. And the most interesting thing about females was the peculiar design of their bikes.

A Troop of English Boy Scouts camped in a wood on the Hill of Howth. Were, from time immemo-rial, we had re-enacted the shoot-cuts, massacres, scalpings, lynchings and hoe-downs of the Wild West, p lanned depredat ions on the or-chards of the neighbourhoods and speculated on the botanical interests of coortin' couples in the surround-ing ferns and rhodedendrons.

We were used to English folk in Howth. •Prosperous retired fold. With Mor-ris Minors and Austin A40s. Rose-growing Colonels - we had three in cur road alone. They had fled the

so H t the blade poififK not tf§| hangp, hid the target,Jfev to

-lapse and set up a tent, Sr^fcng "<Xr llkley Moor Bataat" round a log-fire. It was like Christinas 1914 in the tren-ches. Except it was August

And of course, any thought of ho-micide was out of the question. Until the football match.

•Fkttlee Govdnwrieffi at War's sivhat the ^ s ' l ^ e d "The •£«tre&f

- We "also had, eacn raffle Holiday Weekend, refugees from industrial Lancashire. Taking the Tram to the Summit and on the way feasting their eyes Northwards over Ireland's Eye and Lambay Island and way beyond to the Mournes. Filling their lungs with sea air. At the Summit filling their bellies with real eggs, bacon, black pudding and beef, unobtain-able in rationed Britain. Together with a few quarts of Guinness or other ales. Then back on the tram down the South side of the Hill with views of Dublin Bay, Dalkey Island, Bray Head and a succession of hills and promontories to Wicklow Head.

They were a generous lot, these Lancashire folk, and jolly with it. Though they only knew two tunes.

One was "I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside." The other wasn't.

But these Scouts were a new species of English.

They didn't grow roses, drive Mor-ris Minors or sup ale. And they hung a Union Jack from our lynching tree.

When the humour was on them they sang "On Ilkley Moor Bataat". When it wasn't they sang "Rule Brit-tania". It was the first time I'd heard either ditty. And I liked "On Ilkley Moor" from the start.

They came up fro 'Ull. Which the maps and phone directories call Kingston-upon-Hull.

I've been to 'Ull since. In January. The East Wind, starting on skis in Siberia, scything the grasslands of the Steppes, swept out of Russia without benefit of Glastnost or Peres-troika, careered like a Panzer Divi-sion across the North German Plain, took flight over the North Sea, and then gave its undivided attention to

vic^&aving.t^e locals topEpwde^ofte f*r>Hpmseg£s. ^ S g W ^ t y those inureato the conditions could • plant poles in the Tundra and wire them in the gales.

Anyhow, these Scouts out of 'Ull were unlike any English folk of whom we had direct, wireless, film or literary experience.

The visitors gained a quick fourth, but the Irish rallied with another three, which were followed by an English equaliser. Our Lads were tir-ing and the English were becoming surefooted, ana seemingly unstop-pable as they made for my goal.

Now, I'm as useless in g6al as out-field, but necessity is the mother of inspiration. We didn't have flood-lights and it was getting dark- So, as the English made for my goalmouth I abandoned it - by strolling some fifteen feet to Starboard.

A Lineker of an Englishman sent the ball whizzing by my ear and he and his mates went into a Mafeking of celebration that might have brought Baden-Powell back to fife. I strolled back to the goalmouth re-suming my place at its centre as the visitors prepared for a Lap of Hon-our.

I enquired was it the Queen's Birth-day, or had Her Majesty been de-livered of another Sprog, as I couldn't see what the song and dance was about when we'd a football match to finish. They had failed to put the ball into an undefended goal.

When finally, they realised that I spoke the truth, they were, l ikethe late Queen Victoria, not amused. They abandoned the game, as even if there had need flood-lights, their Hearts of Oak had forsaken them.

We hadn't w o n either, but we left that field with heads high and light hearts.

And that, dear friends, is the origin of the proverb - Is Fearr Siul Gearr no Droch-Sheasamh. Or, for the benefit of Philistines ampng yez - A Short Stroll is BettherNor a Bad Stand!

• Anonn is ami!:-the Peter Berresford Ellis column returns next month

i hey were a generous lot, and jolly with

it. Though they only knewiwo

tunes. One was 'I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside'. The other wasn't."

THE WOOD was contagious to a Gaelic Football field, not called Pairc Ui Ruairc but then known

simply, to locals as "The Tennis". A near pavilion had once serviced Howth Lawn Tennis Club, which had long betaken itself a couple of miles to salubrious Sutton. Where Victorian and Edwardian ladies and gen t l emen h a d p l a y e d l angu id games of tennis attired in gear to cap-size a battleship, we played cricket, baseball, - with a pickaxe handle "borrowed" f rom ,a Corporat ion watchman's hut, clock-golf, football in all its guises, hurling, and more besides. Rules were elastic, indeed, considered bad form. But that was between ourselves alone.

Brittania might walk on the water, but we'd meet her sons fairly and squarely on dry land by their own sweet FA rules.

It was Five-a-Side. For the good reason that Our gang, even, with co-opted auxiliaries never exceeded that strength. The Goalposts at the near end of the Gaelic pitch did their cus-tomary duty and a couple of jackets at the half-way line indicated the other goalmouth. When either team scored 3 goals would be Half-Time. The first team to score 6 goals would be the winners.

I was stuck in goal, as the consens i^ was that I was useless outfield, starts ing with the real goalposts. The Kick-Off was about 8.30pm.

Most amaziri^ was their way of speech, particularly their vocabu-lary. It wasn't what we were used to from Bunter, Hariy Wharton, or even Smithy, - the Cad of the Remove. Nor was it the language of William, Ginger, Douglas and Henry nor that other Outlaw, Robin hood. These fel-lows used word! for anatomy and bodily functionsfwe thought exclu-sive to our own underworld of North Dublin gurriers. '.

So, warily at^f irs t , we got ac-q u a i n t e d w i t h these i n t rude r s , learned how to throw a Bowie knife The British Post Officer never pro-

| i» iaiia«»ilgl "There you get a true in-sight into the Tory mind - coercion for four fifths of Ireland is a healthful, exhilarating and salutary exercise - but lay a finger on the Tory one fifth - sacrilege, tyranny, mur-| der!... As long as it affects the working man in England or nationalist peasants in Ire-land there is no measure or military force which the Tory party will not readily em-ploy. They denounce all violence except their own. They uphold all law except the law they choose to break. They are to se-lect from the statue book the laws they wilt obey and the laws they will resist.... The veto of violence has replaced the veto of privilege... and that is the political doctrine they salute the 20th century with." Wli> ston Churchill, 13 March 1914.

1

K a a a g s s i E H a "i< u»*»ar did not hay* the tension tearing It apart, It might not hold together. Its people, one som* times feels, could no more cope with tran-quillity and the dock-tick of democracy, than the good folk of Lake Woebegone could comprehend Beirut." Walter Ellis, The Sunday Timet 19 August 1000

MIAWiWs^KBma "The Official Union.

reneged o n eecm unoenaxtngs give in

[Aaked about Mr. Adams, Tony y ofBritain is a /Ing tea with the Nltac* as a world elegraph 19 June

Irish accent observation MP

of 21-year-ly.700 but

""V ' •iirfir-iviffii