FOUNDED 1939

Organ of the Connolly Association

No. 437

MOCRAT BEAUTIFUL IRELAND

CALENDARS for 1981

DECEMBER 1980 2 0 p

LOBBIES

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" T L E T

H i t M D I E !

and heresay admitted.

was

^ S a contribution to tl|e campaign for saving the lives of the Long Kesh prisoners on

hunger strike and winning special category status for all those jailed by the Diplock Courts, the Connolly Association on Thursday, Dec. 4th, lobbied Members of Parliament.

Previous to the lobby and heresay evidence Labour M.Pi were sent a memorandum setting out the reasons why special - status should bo ^conceded...

The first reason was prece-dent. Ithas been the rule in the past and one of the rea-rthe Irish voters deserted

Labour Party was its ending of the old practice. ANOTHER reason was that

tliftro was greater doubt off tho guilt of these prisoners than would bo expected if normal judicial procedures wero maintained. Firsts there

s Whilst all these particular reasons would be adequate, the statement mentioned a number of general consid-erations. It made it clear liWt the Association de-« s ' •

plored violence and had never given any support to it. It was opposed to terror-ism. But the question was what was to be done in a world where it Unfortunately existed. ti-

lt did not entirely exoner-ate the British Government from causing terrorism. For

one thing it set a bad ex-ample. Terrorism is defined as the use of violence for the achievement of a political object. The British Govern-ment proposed to train 600 cruise missiles with nuclear warheads on . the civilian population of Russia in order to change the polic^ 61 the

Russian > government They were up to the neck in terror-ism themselves. I ABOUR should be opposed

to alt terrorism not Just that $hfoh the British Government found Inconvenient. fhey s b o m look at Its eauitfc whloh wuh deep in Irfshhlstory. Aft pOT

(Continued on Page Flv«) ...>»<

and army torture. (here was no Jiiiy. Third,: they did not always know Who was accusing 0 i m

•iV r .•"'•••••^•f •••y

EIGHTEEN thousand people •—^hedthrbugfi Dublin to

special ytieau prisdr

*tkt* was ina&Mtibh to te demonstrvttt&uiln Bel-

> dnidvtitwkere in the i^AtL'jivC ^ t

H I i ^ i j w : s t a t e m e n t .

/

m *

they were ft&tttifl&r the of a united Irish republic.

Thty'MateAexplicmy that they had no quarrel with the British working, class to they looked for support ' ideal. . ....

The kourbot* oL thejm Party, already rgtOed by Ftapyi Fail's victory in Done&.Mm. S i t e W » M * statement- tn favour of the prisoner* is said to have netted a thousand votee, have ' lT wash

There <ate over Europe. ments from as far away Norway have cohte into Democrat's office. :>•••'ite*

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2 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT December 1980

SUPERSTATE VERSUS NATION

JOHN BOYD

FIANNA FAIL m n f i c t n # ! u KUHJ ' j i l l u n

FIANNA Fail is riding high, and the Taoweach, Mr Haughey

with it, after Its Donegal by-elec-tion victory. Things are pointing now to * spring or early summer election . following an ^expansionary budget financed by further foreign borrowing. Having won a general election Mr Haughey will then feel truly in charge of Fiwina Fail.

The people are anxious to give Fianna Pail's new leader a chance to prove himself, whether on the North or on the economy. They are unimpressed by the opposition per-formance, which largely consists of making personal attacks on the Taoiseach and criticising him for being too nationalistic. This does Mr Haughey no harm at all and only lessens support for Pine Gael, Labour and Sinn Fein the Workers" Party.

There was a 7% swing to Fianna Pail compared with the 1977 gerteral election. Mr Blaney's Independent- - effects of the slump.

BY JOHN BOYD

I N the current period in many * areas it is often difficult to

prove without any doubt that the EEC is having a detrimental effect on Britain. This is because a num-ber of other factors such as the present recession, the modernising of some industries and changing needs exist alongside the EEC. This is used by both ultra-leftists and pro-marketeers to hide their support for the European Community and the subjugation of Britain in this West European superstate.

Ultra-leftists get all mixed up with grandiose ideas of internationalism. They kid themselves, and fortun-ately not many others, into believ-ing that somehow the EEC can be taken over by working class organ-isations in order to bring about soc-ialism simultaneously in the nine member states. Whatever indus-tries are shut down, whatever power is concentrated at superstate level ana however the multi-national's grip is increased it ap-pears to be irrelevant in the sup-port given to this ultra-leftist view of internationalism.

The pro-marketeers, fully con-scious of the tide of opinion against the Common Market throughout Britain, have put on new clothes and disguises to blame everything on to the recession. The whole question of Britain's membership of the EEC is stood on its head by the line that Britain needs the EEC all the more precisely because of the recession. By pushing this line they completely avoid txith the dra-conian^gect pf 4beE8SC, on Britain and, accepting that there is a re-cession, that an independent sovereign Britain could buffer and isolate herself from the worst

Import con-

T

Fianna Pail increased its vote, the vote for Sinn Fein the Workers Party fell slightly and Fine Gael's slumped drastically—2.000 down on its 1977 total.

It can confidently be stated that Miss SJle de Valera's attack on Margaret Thatetesr during the elec-tion did FUuQOK'V&U no harm at all with the Donegal people, despite the polite official disclaimer after-wards. '•" "

trols, subsidising key industries, modernising and investing in new techniques are not possible under the Treaty of Rome, or the other Treaties of the EEC, without the approval of Brussels.

A LTHOUGH there are many areas that are nqt crystal

clear in regard to the EEC there are ay examples that are clear. Two these which are in the news at

moment are the fishing and industries. The news media

ing Policy (CFP' are all about c 'rving and dividing up the fishing grounds araund the British Isles, which includes both Irish and Britain's territorial waters. With-in the European Community the North Sea is treated as though it were a Common Lake. The talks and arguments about quotas and size of catches includes land locked Luxembourg, as well as Mediter-ranean Italy, joining in the decision making.

In practice what is going on is two quite distinct objectives. The first is that of each member state wielding its influence and power to gain the best deal for itself. Horse trading and package deals are used as the stock in trade even at. this all important level of negotiations. The most powerful nation comes out on top or uses it for some other .purpose.

|THE second objective is that of the JBEC in ignoring the sepa-

rate national fishing industries and their workforces, and instead, work on behalf of the interests of the multi-nationals in the form of food processors, distributors and super-market chains.

Outside the Community, like every other nation in the world, Britain could, have the sovereign right over a 200 mile limit and the fishing grounds within these limits. Instead Britain has to cry and plead at the EEC meetings "please may we have a 12 mile limit and about a third of our fish?" The full rights over the 200 mile limit would ensure a secure livelihood for the workforce, protection and con-servation of the remaining fishing grounds m Western Europe and room for bilateral agreements on fishing.

STgBL The «*eel industry is being carved

to a shadow of its former ^self. Whole towns an3**communitles" are suddenly without the plant that was., the only m e ^ s of employment in jfche area. This?has occurred for sevSwtf reasons. idS'te/Industry has been cut back to suit a seriously diminished home demand for steel This in turn has bein caused by a tide of manufactured imports which in the main corhe from the EEC. Proof of this surrounds everyone by looking at all the foreign motor Vehicles on the streets and the goods in the shops.

"l^HE other major reason for the * cut back in steel production in

Britain and other member states in the Community is that the E3BC J s rationalising the industry on «fee-

whole of Britain's industrial base and economy, support various sec-tors where required and keep people at work. Much needed investment could be encouraged using wealth from the North Sea oil and capital that is at the moment exported abroad to other rich industrial na-tions. In this situation the steel industry and its workforce has an important and fundamental role to carry out.

The same lessons can be drawn from many other industries, although it may be a little more difficult to sort the wood from the ttees, Britain would be better off outside the EEC.

ANB

l-KELAND-S strategic import-ance to NATO was empha-

sised in a memorandum of the United States National Secur-ity Council—the top military planning body—written in 1950 and recently made available to historians. It was 'discussing the desirability of Irish mem-bership of NATO' which had then just been set up.

"Strategically located, Ire-land offers valuable sites for arir bases and naval and anti-stib-marine operations, supplemen-tal to and in support of bases in the British Isles, including Northern 'Ireland. To a limited extent Ireland is a potential source of combat units 'in l i e event of war. Without question Ireland could make a valuable contribution to the defence of the North Atlantic eemmun-ity," the memo said. Y) Iff the Americans decided

thiit ...twenty -six county membership of NATO was not essential, though it would be desirable, because Irish mili-tary facilities would be "merely

to those al-to North At-

lantic fwces -in this a r e a throughthe adherence to the North Atlantic USreaty of Great.

| *nd Northern Ireland. 1 . < r . H H n i l t o ene rgy

.U ^mm^em ' aimrtma an I ail owmhisseu t j f i R T O commit -

the "Demo-_ rfbr years, $$Eitain in

counties w i t h

i It is "the

..enemy assume

un-for

of the

AGALLAMH Dia dhuit, a Chdit—sceal nua

ar bith agat ? Diabhal sceal, a Nora. Cen na

sceal agat fein ? Sceal fada ar an anro, a Chdit.

Fuair me redundant inne. Redundant, a chailin ! Thuga

dar bata is bothar duit, ar thug ? Go baileach, a Chdit! I rtglan

Ghaeilge cheart, thug siad bata is bothar dom.

I monarchain a bhi tu ag obair, an ea, a Nora ?

I monarchain, a Chdit. Bhi mo thrioca chuig punt sa tseachtain ins an bpacdid amach Horn gach Aoine.

Ach gheobhfaidh tu jab eile, ar nddigh, ni he deiridh an tsaoil e . . .

Gheobhfadh ma fhaghaim! Ta na scortha ateacha tri&rte bharr agam. Ta an tir seo reidh agam is gan aom e, ckeo dd da fheabhas dd raibh si trdth.

Ara tiocfaidh biseach uirthf, a Nora, na biddh faitids ort. Nior chaill bean an mhisntgh riamh t.

Nil a fhios agam faoi sin, a Chdit. Ta misneach ag Maggie T. ach de reir mar ta rudai <«g dul caillfidh sise—agus an tlr ar fad!

Ara, a chailin nl misneach td aici sin ach saobhehan cetlte a bheith uirthi. Bean bhuile . . .

Bedn buile, airiil . . . D. MaoA.

Irish CUD. is

JRISH CND has grown from nothing to quite •something in

the past twelve months. '1 'The three hundred members present at its recent annual meetHQg sheaved that Irish people Am shared the world-wide amdety about the new Cold War which has ushered in the l'980s.

During World Disarmament Week at the end of Octttber there were meetingprotests, film shows and: even >the release of peace balloons, supported, by over 30 Irish organisations gath-ered around CND. All these bodies have got together -to* make proposals to the Irish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, on what Ireland, might advocate on nuclear non - proliferation and what unilateral measures 4t might take to thaw its good, faith and commitment to disarma-ment.

That indefatigable fighter ior peace and disarmament, Mr Sean MacBride, was elected president of the campaign 'for the coming year, during which its mam Work will consist wf opposition to uranium mining-in Donegal and advocacy of Irish neutrality in (face,of EEC pres-sures to abandon it.

" '

I M f t O W T f t W T IVERPOOL MJ» Mr Allan Bob-I j arts (Bootls) ,has wctttea to'the

Connolly Association supporting 4ta demand far -some form at .DailUeab status for the H4>locfcprisoners. H» writes: "You have my hill support In all that you are asking for and I will do all I can to help,''But I expect little change from the pre-sent government." ;•

Wh#n members of the Assosfe-tlon lobbied ICRs on Thtmtar. December 4th, tCBtaUw aympajftp was «*pceM*t toy Mr Jtaser. Me TiUey and Mr Frank Field, but Mr Stan Neweo* and Mr Dobson, while sympathetic to the cause Of a united Ireland, did not agree with political status.

The- Association lobbies Parlia-ment again on Wednesday, Dos— ber loth on the subject of the Emergency Provlaisoas Act at 6 pm.

^niit-'m^m

Science and technology by ftoy

Johnston

» » » % i

IS NOW 15$% fttE official figures for the job-

less in Northern Ireland stood at W,$25 (15.3 per cent) for September W80, making for an increase in the same period last year of 1&-768: It is expected, % off those who know inti-mate fy what is going on around the province that, come the end of the year, the figure will tSe at least TOO,WO. And.that figure will not include the thousands Of worsen who are not entitled tai unemplbyment benefit and, therefore,, do not register at Sfe Employment (sic,P Exchanges, ffie latest figures are not yet ta hand but with the reports t h a t are now being received daily of pay-offs here and there and, which do not attract much media- netioe, the figures are bound to have gone up- consid-erably es indicated);

the man-mode fibre industry is In the doldrums and4 these firms which are stiff "open" are ppvtitting ^workers to wot*- far two, three of' four days- per week- Goodyear, the US-owned mbtier company. in €ntigavon, is r&porte<fv£$ube: planning to put most, of it&s wyrgforce on a three-day week and" to be en-couraging voluntary redundancy. Last September, two-thirdS of its employees were put? on a four-day week.

Because of the economy cuts in public expenditure-, most con-struction firms are predicting a more or less close-dtown in the entire industry. As far OS -public building is concerned, md gfiUttS and other- fprm§ of aid aire cotb-cemed, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO,) is: cutting f^gfjkfc left and certtre-and projects, for the wellbeihjr- of the people, have Men 'put off fbr some two to. thhe years. *

FINALLY, the British Govern-ment and the NIO have taken

the decision, to close down the gas industry—completely—with the loes of some 2>O00 fobs. (On fM*mber l9th 1360 the-200000 gas users, industrial and domes-tiCi freed a complete turn*off of •gas as worfte^ hrtttfe^'to- save the industry and to force the mo to give substantial cud to keep the wheals,, of industry . going . AU sugges t ions-put far- ® ward to rejected ami tlw fio^Knment has atnmdy deatdad *> pay but £50 rikitW*hWifSM«fc people who wiH have to co«wt to:. .other p o u t e r sugpliis-wHuti the industry closes down. TW* -vmi'-m- *&>**&<> x J caring m m & ^ ' W p t * 1 r comrs — m*e*n £200 - and £3Qt)J±not ikaiit those on social service benkfa,,tosMing tbarl$ pQ^ peMiatortif7;

The , Belfast shipyard bowses S have introduced a new "cod* Of practices" in order to tighten up on manning andvUeoiplin* There is to be a stricter system

"cloeking-on and off times, as well as checking up on tea breaks; and lundh periods. If any of the regulations are breached' foremen have the power to suspend the "guilty party" immediately. The work-force Has banned all .overtime and the shop-stewards and-trade unions are "on the fob" to force management to withdraw the detailed- document. There are signs of lively times ahead in this already beleaguered ship-yard'!

Mf Hugh Rossi, Minister of Slate at the MO; has-stated that the- creation of artificial jobs heavily dependent on pufflic ex-pmdituro is>a recipe /or disaster. Seme- tem *f tkemsunds of jobs imd job braining) are dependent on such• expenditure and the various schemes are alleged to hove been put into practice to assist young persons who can-not get employment (last figure for the latter, wc# MjOOZ)- If theser schemes are withdrawn, the figure for unemployment will g» sky-high,

I ATTENDED- a remarkable com-memoration lecture on October

28 in the Royal Iriah Academy .-"-). It was given by Professor Dorothy Kod^kin, FRS, under the title ' Microcosm: notes on the world of J.. D. Bernal," and constituted what amounted to a canonisation of someone hitherto considered un-mentionable by the Irish academic establishment. It was sponsored by the National Board for Science and Technology (*).

Bemal is now .topical, thanks to the recent biography, and also per-haps to an increasing realisation of the importance of what he had to say on scienee ahd :teehhology as a factor in economic development In the Irish .context the- academic purists are on -the- "defensive, the "socially responsible science" lobby being increasingly to be reckoned with. There is .no. significant "mili-tary-industrial complex" for the academics to assert their pttrism against:

Docothy Hodgkin won her Nobel Prize in chemistry for unscramb-ling the structure _of the steroids, using X-ray crystallpgrapHic tech-niques which shi picked up from Bemal whQ pie«fee*ea them in the field of large organic motetules.

1 P H I S technique is of mimense importance, as it has enabled

the structures 6f the complex helical molecules where genetic in-formation is encSded tb Bfc resolved, laying the basis for "genetic en-gineering- (recombinant DNA tech-nology). Using these techniques it is possible, for example, to modify a micro-organism to..produce, for example, insulin,-a substance norm-ally expensively extracted from offal. . '

I will not go- mbf JtlW cfctMl of Professor Hod^to ' s accotrtft of Bernal's rcmaa-kable. scientific ca»-

eer. or her evaluation of his pollt*. ical contribution to the world peace movement (which was considerable) partly because I was unable to keep notes owing to the reprehensible practice of completely darkening the room while projecting slides, but mainly because I think the sig-nificance of the event was concen-trated in the votes of thanks.

Professor Eva PttSbin (organic chemistry, UCD) proposed the vote of th&iktes, concentrating an the career of Dorothy Btocigkln as the distinguished* guest speaker, with-out a word on Bernal, as one would expect, he being ah unknown to Irish"acadenlKa. Sfeeonding was T. P. Hardiman. who after "cutting his teeth" as ' Aii engineer in the "blacRr fifties" "became head of BTE and now heads' the National Board for Science and Technology.

f r p. hardiman latched en to the image of the young Bernal

leaving Ireland in the twenties: and attempted: to evoke an understand-ing of what might have -happeii(*d had he stayed -to hetp iwovltfe ia scientific base for I iema^s indus-triatoaaaon of) the thirties. He we»t to t h e brink of the cu l iup^^ap artfl sttOTsted a ^realisation oTi t s Width: Betnai would never have Wosswned' bb a scientist Had he ttee» «ottfiWfea to the stultifying atmosphere «f ' the Free State. Nor would he have come around to the scientific analysis and synthesis of a thebry of science, technology and society had he iiot encountered Marxism and been in the mainstream of the anti-fascist movement The interesting thing, however, is that the Lemass tradi^ tion, embodied as it were lii 'Bard^ man, now shows signs Of wanting to accept Bernal posthumously,

Gutut days later •iNovember 1, to be precise) Harfliman spoke at the ihatit'U'-al meeting of the "c^JMWtelr

#r t s ion of, tbe

tute of Engineers of Ireland. This time he was responding to a paper by Tom Byrnes, the Chief Execu-tive of the new Telecommunications Board.

'"pHIS Board will be a semi-state body and will replace the tele-

phones division of the old P & T. It is poised to leapfrog-other Euro-p e states rapidly mto an all-

,digital advanced-technology system, tWiich can be done in the Republic more rapidly than anywhere in Europe because the old P & T is to antediluvian tha t whole sections «an be serapped' quickly without loss. The rgf event atb-acted a targe audience (some hundjeds) mostly of young people. ' ' • * -/

Tom Hardiman responded to the -'toicfaMm- by- invftihg^^ this 'jiwmiper ^etteratton te be orighria i f e d ^ W t -M and not to allow thems^res to be hidebound by ttte t%n«al9K>ld Bntlsh system we ihhertfiSi (mean-log the CivM Service), as tps and previous generations had done. This is hot mere- verbal ra^lcallsm.- aevit is simply not possible for @be old P & T structure to ^ontmue hi the present situation. Everything is grinding to a hal t ; the strike -was o n $ a symptom. The :

tures are emerging, and the positive ' effects of a "communications revo- " lution" will become appatehi; "qtdte aeon (years rather than deeadest. So the ground is being^ttHa;wrted for aft- emergence of a ; living Beriial tradition in his homelfmd, and-ttdt before Ime. .>-.•'»-

• <** The-Aeademy M(kt from tife n m and seholaMy -BiS^ i t e an All-Ireland the retention OP Qie never RepubHc largely voluntary, and 1 has few resouw^s- Thfr ! est i n , science and -Repuhlio to/ National Board Teoh^tiogjr^ ttal -annual budgpt, , -

D e c e m b e r 1 9 8 0

4 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT o

December 1980

CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE MEETS IN LIVERPOOL

SIX COUNTY CUT-BACKS T^ VERY section of the public ser-' J vices has come out in protest

as the cuts bite into the number of jobs available. Retirement is being used to this end. Those workers, still far off retirement age, find that they are expected to make up for those workers who have left employment at sixty or sixty five years and also for those who accept volun-tary retirement before the age limit has been reached. Public service porkers, who are fighting back very hard, have informed the public that the services are being run down and benefits for the people will be much decreased.

The Northern Ireland Supple-mentary Benefits Commission has been abolished and the area will have just one representative on a "national body" to deal with the vast number of applicants seeking such benefit and those thousands who will be added to the list as unemployment goes up and up. (Another QUANGO gone! Another right filched from the people of the North.)

iTHHE Chairman of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive

(NIHE) has just issued his most detailed challenge yet to the Con-servative Government over its spending cuts in public housing. He states that a recent national sur-vey has shown that hOUBifig in the" North is three or four times worse than in Britain. Mr Brett main-tains that, despite "preferential " treatment," it is nowhere near enough and the standards ofhoua- -t ing is only comparable to that in Britain in the mid-sixties. He points out that some of the com-parisons in the National Dwelling ana Housing Survey for England with the NIHE "produce conclu-sions that are startling in the . extreme.".

Mr Brett explained that the British Government aimed to, spend

." ii~/. i, .' "nT ir'ii.i.u. " "i. 1

STILL ALIVE ? 8 the "official" UR.A. still alive*

* An. astonishing- article in . ' last issue pf "HiWrWA" States that*

This assertion was triggered, oft

about £0 per head in England on housing, while in Northern Ireland the figure was about £82." But he goes on to say that this 64% dif-ferential in expenditure comes no-where near meeting the much greater differential in needs. If there is a pause, which is more than a temporary check, the de-cline in housing standards may be-come irreversible."

N. Ireland is still at the very bottom of the list in providing good housing. The construction industry languishes. But the Government and the NIO are indifferent to the plight of the homeless, the over-crowded and those who are living in dwellings which do not contain the ordinary and accepted ameni-ties of the 1980s. E.S.

A T its annual meeting held in M the A.U.E.W. Hall, Liver-pool, on November 29th and 30th, the Connolly Association conferred honorary life mem-bership on Miss Elizabeth Sin-clair, and on Joseph and Dor-othy Deighan.

On the Saturday evening at a party held to celebrate her 70th birthday, Miss Sinclair was presented with a copy of the history of the Liverpool Trades Council, donated by the Council, and with a book con-taining pictures of working-class life in the city donated by the Association. Among those present were Mr. Anthony Coughlan from Dublin, and a number of Association members who had driven over from Manchester. Miss Sinclair pre-sented the Association with a splendid embroidered l i n e n which will be on display at the London office.

The conference coincided with the vast demonstration wfiich walked from Sefton Park to the Pier Head. "I am afraid," said Mr. Deighan, "that we have been swamped by this. But you couldn't be swamped by better water." „

It was an eloquent testimony to the unity of the organisation that every resolution w a s passed unanimously. A number of local trade unionists at-tended the Sunday afternoon session. "THE main resolution was pub-

1 lished in the Irish Democrat last month. An emergency re-solution called for the granting of special category status for

republican prisoners in Long Kesh and Armagh jails.

Reference was made to the statement smuggled out of Long Kesh and published in The Guardian. It included a statement that 4he prisoners had no quarrel with the British working class.

It was pointed out that the circumstances of the arrest and conviction of the prisoners were such as to create uncertainty as 1o whether they were guilty or not of the offences of which they were accused, which, of course, the Association in no way sup-ported.

Great stress was laid on the necessity of trying to clear up the confusion which existed in the British Labour movement. As Mr Deighan put it, the Bri-tish were beginning to take an interest in the Irish question. But if they went too rapidly from thought to action there might be foolish things done. Many people thought they understood the Irish question .reference to the & n n p | l y . A * When, they didn't. sociation even in newspapers

One speaker instanced the which used to give it piiMioity. heckling at the Committee for The only paper which consist-Withdrawal rally, and the ently published the Association's article in a left-wini journal ! press sUtftments was the "Irish which accused t h e Catholie flirt." " B t e ^ l r i s h T J e m o c r a t " church of organising opposition was therefore the more iin-to Mr Boh Wright in the portent. A.U.E.W. election. . . U / ^ V , , ' ,- ,

TM0 .enormous importance of English, T r e d e V n i o n l . tile lflOre

well meaning, poking their noses in. Another resolution called for increasing inter-change visits by British and Irish Trade Unionists.

The Association reaffirmed its well • established fundamental policy of calling upon the British Government to state and carry out the intention of relinquishing all claim to hold any of the territory of Ireland and of working consistently for the reunification of the country under Dublin government. T H E number of members oh

the National Executive Council was raised to eighteen, and those elected were peter Mulligan (Northampton) Mich-ael Crowe (Newcastle), Bernard O'Connell (Birmingham), Des-mond Greaves (Liverpool), Ber-nard Morgan (Liverpool), Barry Riordan (Oxford), P a t r i c k Bond, Noel Gordon, Roger Kelly, Jane Tate, Helen Mc-Murray, Gerard Curran, Chris Sullivan, Stephen Huggett, Philip Rendle, Patrick O Dono-hoe and Siobhan McAnulty (London). A member for Man-chester was to be co-opted eiarly in the new year when the branch w a s reorganised.

Conference made special men-tion of the "Irish Democrat" which had been published tiph-tinuousiy for over forty years. It was pointed out- that there was a complete boycott pf all

preps Irish t imes s tressed / I T w a s decided to make a • '' f rosk ftffAVf in eaHfl onaalf.

/"[VTEMBERS of the Connolly Asso-1 1 1 elation attended the picket of Downing Street J% iavfctf 9f the H-ltfock hunger strikers. This , was

• bad been tfTall riiWr-rigtt eral-days. Among those who

attended fee vigil three night* «m-• : wWl Mr Oordbn McLennan. Communis leader. • . j a l ^ th i ; ^ - " " ' - 1

of a Gardai

[GLAND has no right in Ire- J never had any right. in

Ireland, and can "never have any ^ f e l ' t n Ireland."

no» Qwmolljr.,^; and rounds of ammunition, walkie- brated her M b bl .talkie riKUoe and the words of

in C o : U m m w . - fltonnolly, . i f e i ^ i t e , o v i tial Which JU, ta claimed -that, the coins are

fcfcwwtf t h m r * bank raid, and £ a n X » netted S m w

aoo Ot a rn roll W 3 B B ?

operation ascribed to the r l i ^ l p c t a d e an anned

ry-Jfc creamery, the ite aeeurlty vim in «Rf»ad i BelXMt, and a recent on a Jeweller's shop,

cordinfc to the article p

cfal" IJRtA. has about a fvqjunteers in Belfast

n*|$n frequented by "officials." It:

" there are tape" rffijlpng Kesh .sentenced

wmm mm

it than in thctpe daysl if^her alignment wiffe § mmmt Mook, m

" : ' m

L E T T E R

"ipHIS letter Is to inform you about • the campaign for the H-Block

prisoners in Norway. This far, the following has been done:

The two solidarity groups in Nor-way, Irlandskomlteen and Irlands-fronten, have sent out a Joint press-statement about the hunger strike. Included In the letter was a trans-lation of the prisoners statement.

Today the two groups have picketed the British Embassy in Oslo for one hour, carrying the Irish tricolor and slogans oafllng for support for the hunger strikers and political status now. The picket was covered by Journalists from the state owned television company, one dally newspaper and one press bureau. ' r \

Irlandsfronten has sent letters to 130 different political, religious and humanitarian organisations and trade unions asking for them to join us in a broadly based. H-Block cam-paign while the hunger strike, lasts,, and calling for support for the five demands of the prisoners. We are sending out letters for 2<MK Indi-viduals and well-known persons to-morrow. irlandskomlteen has net yet Joined this Initiative, but has promised to Join if i t proves siicceii*; ful. ••

Our hope Is tha t such a broad campaign will b e ^ b l e to do more for the p r l M n # r s | P m our two small groups have been able to.

We woulil very miKh appreciate Informatlort abbut ' the aotiVltiet of other groups.

••. _ . \ " I .j - .. . •) KEN JACKSON,

Irlandsfronteri, Box mi, Otto 3. — * b r « l y .

METHODISTS ON LONG KESH

i ^ "J"HE Methodist Church In Ire-

land, while opposing the prin-ciple of political status for the H-Block prisoners, has urged the British Government to consider other means In defusing the pre-sent dangerous situation.

"We urge Her Majesty's Govern-ment not to allow the situation to drift," say the Methodists, and their press officer has suggested that prisoners should be allowed to wear their own clothes.

The National H-Block Committee, in a statement on Gerry Flit's sup-port for Mrs Thatcher's line, said

1 that in t» t t the West Belfast M.p. supported political status. "What was the difference between the H-Block prisoners then and now?" they ask.

*TTHE statement continues: "The f case for political status is not

based on Justification of the prison-ers' actions. It Is based on the In-

'disputable fact that there are two , legal systems existing side by side

In the Norths one of whloh permits the u ^ o f ; fu tu re , the negation of all rights of the defendant, the abo-lition of Jury trial antt is confined Miely,. as specified in the Emer-

those ao-4 oueed-' e f ' * p ^ t l c a i l y - m o t i v a t e d "

offences, if there are two kinds of ; u | ^ ; ; ^ 1 k l n d s of courts and two

kinds of court Justice, there must tKAuMnds Of prisoners a t the

^ • M . I t is as simple as that."

IRISH LABOUR WAKING UP I F the Irish Labour Party re-

turned to the principles of its founder, James Connolly, threw off the baleful influence of the cruisers and trimmers, and stood for the Irish Republic, one and indivisible, Ireland would be free and socialist within ten years. It is to prevent this that the two-nat ions rubbish and other dope-peddlers hawk their wares.

Could it happen ? There are signs that it might.

MANY THANKS THE Connolly Association Sup-

port fund — or , 'as . l t used to be called M the olden days, "susten-tation fund" — is Just a 'wee bit slimmer this month, but we, hope it will thicken up again during De-cember. i .

Those who were in Liverpool on November 29th got the Impression that the working olass might be beginning to wake up. It must have been the biggest demonstration since the nlnefeen: thirties.

But most of the Britislfi workers do not yet know that the settlement of tbsi I rish question Is essential to their own emancipation. Give as (nuch as you oan t o speed the day when that realisation dawns.

r"\UR thanks to: V, Mortoa £6, ^ f " South London Jumble Sale £50, R. Gordon 80p, G. Ward £1, J. Kavanagh £2.80, J. McLoughlin £5, J. GaJliyah £1, M. Porter £3.05, c . McLiam £2.18, P. Mullin £3, B. Par-rington £50, T. Linehan £1, J. Mc-Donald ^ j - J. Parrell £5, A B^th-stein $5, J. Roy £l , Lysaght £3, J. Pici in? Central London London £21,94, in £5.7Ti;' in West WbTAL: £196.89.

,'il

Led by Maisie McConnell, the Dublin Labour Party has issued a statement, published in the Irish Times, declaring in favour of political status for the prison-ers in Long Kesh.

Mrs McConneii's parents were connected with the Connolly Association in London forty years ago. Her brother was sen-tenced to twenty years im-prisonment for political offences just before the war. She is to be congratulated on the stand that has been taken.

Ireland's two years at U N O.

JRELAND now has a seat on the United Nations Security

Council, for two years from January. This is the body which decides what shall actually be done by the UN and which directs its peace-keeping opera-tions. \ Ireland was elected by over two-thirds of the 155 states now in the General Assembly. Vot-ing is secret, but it looks as if Ireland was supported by the SovietI Union, by rhany Third World countries and by the West Europeans

NEUTRALITY DEMAND GROWS

HPHE building of an All-Ireland movement in opposition to war

entanglements is one of the practi-cal issues on which ordinary people, North and South, might be brought together at the present time, said Senator Professor John A. Murphy at a meeting on Irish neutrality organised in Dublin by the Irish Sovereignty Movement.

A policy of meaningful non-align-ment in international affairs by Ire-land would surely gain respect from the best elements of the Northern Unionist community. The people of the North are directly threatened by Britain's decision to accept 160 <?ruise missiles over the next two years. These are to be deployed throughout the United Kingdom on the backs of lorries in times of international tension — some prob-ably to the Six Counties—bringing a direct threat to all the people of Ireland Senator Murphy said. ^

60 and 80 people marched, behind the Connolly

Association's banners on the de-monstration against Partition, held in London on November 15th. The demonstration assembled at Em-bankment and marched to r j ; • • , . , ,. uoiiuvuTOui, turn nmrcnea TO 1

The good record of Ireland at Camden Centre, Eultbh Road, v h the>UN under Mr Frank Aiken a rally was held. proved invaluable in canvassing ^ Speakers at the mBy tocl»idfed support among Third World d ive Soley;. MP. Ernie Roberts;

In recerh ""

Conn^ly OPBrien, Michkel Big^T A h n y c a p t a i p , , ^ - B e l f a s t ^ t ^ v e a

December 1980 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT

IS it freezing in Long Kesft this Christmas • Is i i sleet or snowt Or simply a thin, driving rain Ona sharp wind ? I do not know; What was theweather tike in Bethlehem Two thousand years ago ?

There's a rich hotel in Belfast, Where the khaki's often worn, That's fitted full with romtftry gentlemen Who get drunk on Christmas morn; How cottfd they know if up the road A little hope gels bowi ?

And Hope- wa& born in a cold, kN» pjace, Under an alien crown;

T e s e e k i t ou t and c u f r t d o r t n : As I recaH they 'd l i t t le h t c k , A n d r a t h e r less renown.

For thirteen weeks my hatigdigfWir it filled my body all through and

U n J p w ^ d W l (resolved-me-fl ight WMPun dead

ttM alrM •J '

Early « n e mwrrtlhg en- t h o ^ a m w k

Wt th iwt shepherdor sageorking She smiles on you in rnid-Decemh

two I l i f t . f lOiWrjdjI

mm. b>wmu»> .•»> nanwe t»*a W h t t ^ t r a t t o r t S h a m e a n d f o e *

S o m e i n t h e C M t t i i l ^ 'dreary*ee

l e f t o m e r e ,

2 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT December 1980

I war barely eighteen yean of age

T«- Join the army I did then engage;

1 left t he factory with true Intent, To join the forty-second regiment.

To Fulwodd Barracks I then did go To spend-,some time in that depot Pu t fortunate l was not te be Few Captain Hansom took a dislike

me.

It happened that I was on guard one day,

Three sergeants' children came-out to play,

I took one's name Instead* of all tin we,

With neglect of duty they did me>

SHE Nt GHAPHEA M R maidin De Donaigh is dearach do ttrois-sa

" Go oathaeh am' aonar a deanamh ma smaointc Qo dhearcas a'pleirechi go h-aerach am tMmpal Eala ba sheimhe ba chraoine ba chaotee. Dp. phreabas do rttheas do dhrwideas 'a* eons Bn mheasae do ohoapas nar mbisde dhom short. A biaiseadb go miiis, in imeall a heoil Le taithneamh le gile, te finne no h-oige Le mais le giaine, le binnoaoht a gterthas.

CURFA:

'Sa Site ni Ghadhra tedham ag ol, *9m Sile nt Ghadhra tednam ag pi, DWfeinase sgjliiap 'sba chuma CS BBFftgainn e 'Sdo raghatnn ar*o*d luinge le Site nl Ghadhra.

So Sile ni Ghadhra da raghlfta agoJ-liaro. -BHearf&inn guth garhar duita's D'tompoimr ffcein ffl'aghSidh ort J»,, Fanthnarim do theaghlach da bhagh'nn ttw DP phreabas do ritheas . ... (mar Id sa

At Fulwood guardroom I did appear But Cur iam Hansom my- sase

would not bear, 8 r t » my^fate)l was resigned, And in Nutwood guardroom I was

W M i (MB4.A j.Oico'1

white foreign goofi • a r r c h e ^ f ' t o i .British losses « r j m > n i i » of sterling.

PAtWtHf ^ m m t r n . ' . & t ' " include"pas Xrist

mot' tie m~ Jlaughey in a i f e Interview.-

December 1980 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT

JUME has shown that divi-sion Mf&eJan0- simply lws

not worked, Irish Foreign Minister Brian Lenihan told the United Motions in Octo-ber. "'Accordingly my Gov-ernment wish to see an arrangement evolve whereby Irish men and women would manage the affairs of the whole (stand on a truly con-structiv*tpaFthership, without a British presence but with active iBctttsfr goodwill for arty cmm&flieni m Ireland which utajfUe worked out by agreement: ~ .

"My Government is willing to diseusts, Msftih all the r^pre-

w h a t arrmgements would be neededto safeguard ithete in-terests temMtiom. • My Goveimmt <kme Hp? doabt that j^mjno'

to go far, perhaps even fur-ther than they realise, in ordeU to reach agreement on ne*> arrangements. . . .

''Having said that, it must be added that attitudes struck :up to now have been influ-enced by the unqualified guarantees given by succes-sive British governments to the Unionist section of the people of Northern Ireland. This has encouraged them to vet& any proposals in ad-

n vanm Accordingly, it is our •belf&f thstt a deetemtim by the British Government of their interest in encouraging the unity of Ireland by ogree-

:ment±c mid ip peafee, could

tireiy ] new situation and help \us in Ireland to devise new structttreai itf agreement mA wm s»»(W«fc which would brio? ktstmg $eme. to the isldMiof helaitd" .

i ^ H E break between the Irish pound aad $t»riiag has proved

unexpectedly lucky for Ireland over the pest two yearu When Ireland tied its pound to the currencies of the! EEC countries and ; ,Brit&in de-cided not to, most of the experts thought tha t sterling would fall and the Deutschmark linked currencies would rise in relation to one another. •

j •'••- -

In fact the opposite.,to what the experts expected has happened— not for the flfcst tone. Sterling has gone up" as foreigners .fidcl to buy the. cwrjencies . of .oilneiidowed coun-.tries an'd a s , . . ! ! ^ ^ Thatcher's swingeing Interest rates give them record returns tor depositing, their m<»ey in . m ^ ^ ^ ^ - M m r ? pays the price, as I t e 'corpeetitive-ness is ereded: bec^iwe stealing is over-vrfued. B r i t ^ c a i ^ p t sell her

•TP-HE Irish pound was recently ; down to SO pence sterling. I t te inconvenient to travellers but i i

-improves the competitiveness of Jrigh goods on the British market Iby onetfifth. -It increases the cost of essential imports from Britain, but it makes inessent ia l dearer too and toe advantages lor Ireland seem to aotweigh the tawts. "Gmne to . iss^s

Sis a message that could bring more visitors «<nn Brifein fm"-l»MlddyS or weekends. Irelaad still does'half its trade wito ^ j f i C ^ to iff. dustry woiBd have be«i cBicjpecl M e ' f t i t e t e ^ ' ^ " ' - r e c e s s i o n - ^

. f h e Irish'curjeney -had-' link. V h e r n ^ . al - ithe: I ^ c i i ^ ^ s h d l u ^valued in relation to stertine aim evente siBem to &we p m m m ^ ,

. .r • x,:-; . "

POSTAL DELAYS

HEU> UP COPY

jriHwwe

IRISH DEtoOCI*AT

mswerea . "Welt,, i

Y .TERRY ' \>hich of t| MS? ^j>iveii Umt in an Iritkman kem^are t home for don- "W5!l,

"How s o m e - k t m ? then, m n procea :**'. ~r»irit there

VIGNJ Valera

f :• /i rus an Uil

fe^ nature unsfe

united.

1 i i ! r,

2 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT December 1980

M O N T H B Y JF there's e'er a scrap of comfort The local pronunciation^, for the

at all to be gleaned from the place is 'DtOwda' .MuSo^pr-Ronald Reagan victory it is that rect Irish original Dfoi&htad as a President he may turn out '" ' ' to be a lot less of a hawk than

with Donall MacAmhlaigh

Peter THulligans

peepshow

THE Secretary of State for N. Ire-land conceded that all prisoners

could wear issued civilian clothes. This has not satisfied the H-biock prisoners who, in a statement smuggled out yesterday, said: "Our grave decision to hunger strike is entirely of our own and owes In-fluence only to the perpetuation of four long years of British institu-tionalised torture arid unpreceden-ted barbarity here within H-block and in Armagh Jail. Having ex-hausted every other means and alternatives available to us, we see no other way of ending this in-humanity.'1 — "Financial Times".

" a if

is generally supposed. At least as a Governor of California many of the dire things forecast for his term of office did not come to pass; the Presidency, like other forms of high office, often changes a man and unless Reagan surrounds himself with paranoid militarists it would be reasonable, J suppose, to hope that he will go easy on the sabre-rattling.

The chances of a nuclear war occurring by accident — never mind by intent — must be great enough as it is, and for all the might of the USSR the powers-that-be there are clearly appre-hensive about American inten-tions. The fact that nobody at all would be winner in the hent of a nuclear war must \urely be apparent to anyone nth the I.Q. of a snail, yet the

"The Government last Friday is-*/ will-o'-the-wisp of a deterrent sued a security alert to. British/ diplomats abroad, officers of thg British Army of the Rhine and army base commanders and chief constables throughout Britain, ad-vising them to take precautions against renewed IRA attacks out-side N. Ireland."—"Sunday Times". The police continue to use their ex-tensive powers under the PTA to harass Irish dissidents.

' * <r There are 2,070 prisoners in the

heavily-fortifled Meus prison. Of those there are 1,028 in the notori-ous H-toJeck section; 530 ftepubllMifc prisoners a n refusing to wwr ort-mil

is pursued with ever-growing enthusiasm by the bigger pow-ers to the detriment of the whole world, financially, morally and—if they ever press the button — totally!

Reagan's victory may have brought no joy to sane people but it was a relief to get a respite from the U.S. Presiden-tial Election trail — only the most fanatical student of poli-tick would not want a breather aftdf all these months. And it

" even as though it were a

Atha is closer to tl$ presently English pronunciation we hear on radio and telly!

When Charles Haughey began to make the headlines here in Britain on his election (or selec-tion) for Taoiseach there was a lot of controversy about the way his name should be pronounced. We, being used to hearing of Charlie 'Haw-hee' in Ireland were a mite tickled to hear the British newsreaders call him 'Hockey' but really 'Hockey' is far closer to the proper Gaelic form of O hEachaidh than 'Haw-hee'.

Another example is Youghal of carpet and other fame. An English lady told me last year that she had spent many an enjoyable holiday at 'Yoe-gull' as she called it and a second Irishman later enquired of me where in the name of God 'Yoe-gull' was.

"She means Yawl," I told him, \ giving the most common Irish pronunciation.

"Well, fancy calling it Yoe-gull," said he. "I mean, Y-o-u-g-h-a-l spells Yawl; don't f t ?"

But in fact 'Yoe-guW is much . . .. . „ nearer the real Irish fotni of tuning them out? Eochaill than is Yflwl . . . 4 wouWn t in

You cannot but wonder how.

it. Vft - ft * ....

The Central Office of Information bave produced a propaganda book-let, "H-block—the facts", toeing sent to all foreign and newspapers. W J U ^ BWUgftey

rial would be hard to fmS. QN a tighter note-** it Raygan

or Reegan (phonetically) ? Most Irish people tend to say Reegan" though in Ireland ther

this came abo we took the pronunciation, than ErigUsh in England come nearer

place-tvbm.es!

presumably ofm ahd Elizdbe-

hear him too, advertising Limer-ick bacon or something. Then throughout the day on either channel you'll hear him or some-one very like him on an average of every ten minutes — I mean it could scarcely be the one man all the while, could it?"

I didn't see why not, I told my man, and then hastened to say that I was not attributing the divine quality of omnipre-sence to Terence W. The nor-mal recording procedures could surely arrange it so that anyone at all, given the opportunity, could be heard as often as re-quired over the air. Terry Wogan presumably does a lot of recording . . . ' r

"But anyway," said my man, "himself and his equals on radio are indistinguishable as far as I'm concerned, they all talk alike. They have a kind of an accent thai yoii cOUldr?t call ^ngli^k^or Irish or Yankee a <:

n blarid, smo acciftt trie you'd well-manufactured robot, see what I mean."' He paused and looked at me spectitfjwvely, .

"Do you think they have a kind of factory or something for

"*ie«f t 1

answered. .-••<&* "Well,' it's very J

said, "how many ageko sound so alii maybe they put some sort of a

•ose—a k'

HOW MANY. TERRY ' WOGANS ?

In a related vein an Irishman

to represent Ireland in the pre-sentation of their end of things ((just as Terry Wogan represen-ted Britain) made her introduc-tory comments in the Irish language, the good Terry piped up, before an audience of many millions, with an ill-mannered "Td s6 mahogany gaspipes !"— a derisory, illiterate catchcali. It would be hard to imagine any Englishman or Continental offer-ing such a gratuitous insult to his own national language. And even if it was as a result of some seoinin sense of inferi-ority it was still unforgivable ...

Those of us who have been here in Britain most of our lives, even if we make fairly fre-quent visits home, can scarcely imagine the vast changes that have come over Irish society. At times you read the news from home with a sense of incredu-lity—two recent examples: in the Gaettacht parish of Carna, Cmnemara, schoolchildren with Monday morning hangovers have become H\a considerable problem in the secondary schools there. This would have been quite unthinkable when most Of us lived in Ireland., . . i htean, where ddt teenagers get enough money to buy enough ' -'-'i to have a bad enough

over that they ctm't get on their work next day ?

A second example relates to the ridiculous new Irish contra* ception laws ("An Irish solution

sH Ptoblm'% as Haw-hee

• local so that there's no knowing yshich of them is in it at 0y given time—or how many of them are there entirely."

"Well, I never heard of a second Terry W.," I said, "but

"A unttyirJor

see it as just orte further example. of; Home Rule). Wp taw resulted inpgk' unseemly ^crantbte fo purchase contraceptives before tke s upply

i "Unionists «ent

.jfeM f- iUtoMtiZt

who hasn't been home for don-_ _ name is invariably spelt'Regan'?, keys' years but who likes to

Gwerfaneai ^ v ^ W i f f l e i a i B u t in fact the Arnefiqati pr6- keep in touch by means of the now'that you suggest it,-there's• m j f i ' r r i r f - ^ f h i r f view? * • */ \nunciation of 'Raygan' is closer radio, asked me recently : "How some kind of scientific reproduc- fad faultWiththose who jr-—*

'-f!*:^ s:-' to the Gaelic original of O mafty Tetry Wogans are there, tfcm,process known as cloning, in the mh for I believe , - . ., Moj? ?" isn*t there . . ." w&rf* it is a t1

to -WW*'.- have noticed on many occasions There was surely only one— JOKES apart, Terry Wogahfor tional riL liin'iiitiii before— how non-Irish people at least only one of radio arid / all fas popularity, gave a dis- purchase

u .

v.- ^

it is a denial of their constitu* mft^to bf.jam^er-

-ot.itfcMM

1

mmi very bften con^ closer to the television fame —I replied, and piay of the most awful bost- have cl J** c f r r e c t Gaelic pronunciation why did he ask? hoonery at this year's Eurovision Not so

thm m, Mifiitimm. , "M^" the answeercme, i,' ' w

! exa^tpjes rmy suffce: Drojghedfi seem to hear him all the time wZ^er&iky of Whenlve r is often pronounced Vroe^da'^raad ev^rtwRete. Triht dn^tife nnM0D/,i inA« * Donegal lady whose fob

i l S N J i m ^ m

m Wm^'M m k ' m

w m

WfimfrsM

mf^+T \ --A

mx < . BW . H

: Irish people t , ih* at thiscsupposed mispronupcip- Oway „ _ _ __ _ _ . tio* - - : : : ^

• V.i at«.. -Ti* A ti- X-.'hi.Ji'.rtedr^S^SS- 'SCwvlr.!:'- -. . . , - . r t ' . -^-Vifl i^fc% the early

as* jww Mtag . lie 'issue "of the

^ jfedaBst Sevehtii

iiD •t'.o 14 O o v e r n m e n t S f j

WW*.

never

thm td oi^r have wild that tbe the A p M j ^ j Pmldent , w^io wa« f

mm.

ucif •

nature

up

•r tSF"

• w c h B m

- that could only Be

both partlOTjjjd^ united team. Whatever about the

W trim ' • . but ''

lik. r.-'ii'faj'iflii-T |

'h