Short Strand defiant in face of Sectarian Attacks

 
Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey has said the response of the RUC/PSNI to the ongoing loyalist attacks on the Short Strand area of Belfast is yet further evidence of a force not to be trusted by nationalists.

Casey was speaking following the second night of attacks by hundreds of loyalists on the homes of families in the small nationalist enclave of the Short Strand in East Belfast.

Casey said: “As loyalists continued to fire missiles at people's homes, the RUC/PSNI made no meaningful effort to stop them or protect residents. Many local people were injured, some seriously, while dozens of homes were damaged during the attacks.”

“Only for the bravery of the local residents who defied and fought off this UVF led attack on their area, there would have been even more widespread carnage and destruction.”

“We have all seen the speed and brutality with which the RUC/PSNI act against nationalists and republicans engaged in peaceful protests, the protests against sectarian marches through Ardoyne last summer being a prime example. Yet here we had masked and armed UVF thugs violently attacking a small isolated nationalist enclave causing injuries and destruction with the RUC/PSNI effectively standing by allowing them to do so. When they did intervene, they fired plastic bullets injuring young nationalists attempting to protect their area from further attack.”

"Also reprehensible has been comments from the RUC/PSNI in the media portraying this as 'clashes' between two rival sets of rioters.  Many media outlets have also swallowed this line and have reported it as such.  The reality is that once again the Short Strand is under siege by sectarian loyalist thugs who want to rid East Belfast of all nationalists.  These are unprovoked sectarian attacks on a small vulnerable community.  They should be described and reported as such and the people of the Short Strand should be commended for their determined resistance and assisted in any way possible."

éirígí national vice-chairperson Rab Jackson and the party’s Upper Falls representative Pádraic Mac Coitir visited the Short Strand on Tuesday to show solidarity with residents and to meet with local éirígí activists and community workers.

Pádraic MacCoitir & Rab Jackson

The two were shown some of the most badly damaged houses and talked to residents who said they had experienced the most terrifying night in a long time."

Jackson said: “Nationalists are sick, sore and tired of the fact that every time there are difficulties within unionism, this manifests itself in violent sectarian attacks. Ultimately, what we witnessed last night was the cranking up of a unionist mob – at the behest of the UVF – that simply doesn’t want a catholic about the place in east Belfast.”

“The attack on the Short Strand is also an indicator of the total failure of what is called the peace process and those who police it to protect nationalists in vulnerable areas.”

Jackson added: “The people of the Short Strand are to be commended for their bravery in confronting the UVF and eventually forcing them from the area.”

“The Short Strand community has a long and proud history of defending their area from British and unionist aggression, éirígí is confident that the current generation of residents will be no less determined.”

Saor Éire 2011 – A gathering for socialists and republicans

They think they have bought half of us off with the withdrawal of the British garrison in Ireland to barracks and fooled the rest of us into believing that bail outs and tax breaks for the rich are somehow in the interests of working people.

However the fools they have left us armed with something far more dangerous than any bullet or any ounce.

The historical legacy and political ideas of James Connolly should act as a guide to the actions that republicans and socialists should be engaged in.

Ninety-five years after the execution of Irish socialist republican James Connolly, Ireland remains under the yoke of capitalism and imperialism.

On Saturday, May 7, éirígí has organised a gathering where the way forward for the national liberation and class struggles in Ireland today can debated and discussed.

‘Saor Éire’ in the 1930s was central to the project of radicalising a generation of activists and it is fitting then that it will today be the title for a gathering which hopes over the coming years to achieve the same end.

‘Saor Éire’ – A gathering for socialists and republicans

Venue: Ashling Hotel (Parkgate Street, across from Heuston Station)
 

Date: Saturday, May 7

10am – The resources of Ireland for the people of Ireland?
The giveaway of Irish natural and the struggle to reclaim them. Speakers: Maura Harrington (Shell to Sea) and more.

11am – James Connolly – Idol or Ideologue for Irish Republicans?
Speakers: Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh (author) and Dr Brian Kelly (lecturer, QUB).
A discussion on whether Irish republicans only see James Connolly in terms of his involvement in the 1916 Rising or seriously use his writings and actions over his lifetime as a guide to their political commitments.

12 Noon – Fighting back against the EU/IMF cuts
Speakers include éirígí's Daithí Mac An Mháistir, Pepe Gutierrez from Latin America Solidarity Campaign and Brendan Ogle of Unite the Union.

1pm – Break

1.30pm – No Queen Here – Why we oppose monarchy and imperialism
Brian Leeson of éirígí, Roger Cole of PANA and others will take part in a discussion on the imminent arrival of the commander of British military and why imperialism in Ireland and abroad must be resisted.

3.30pm – James Connolly Commemoration, Arbour Hill cemetery.

'British Queen' for the Guillotine

éirígí are to hold a protest at the GPO in Dublin this Saturday April 16th at 1pm,  which will see the symbolic beheading of an effigy of 'Elizabeth Windsor' in a French revolution-style mock guillotine.

It is the latest in a series of demonstrations organised by the socialist republican party against the upcoming state visit by Elizabeth Windsor to the Twenty Six Counties.

Speaking in advance of Saturday's protest, Cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson said:

“With the Windsor state visit due to begin in Dublin in just over a month éirígí are stepping up its campaign of opposition to the visit.  This Saturday's protest is just the latest that éirígí have organised against the parading of the British head of state and commander-in-chief of the British Army through the streets of Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland.”

He added:  “As éirígí has already pointed out, the timing of the visit is deliberately provocative.  It is designed to rub salt in the wounds of the victims of British state violence, beginning as it does on the 37th anniversary
of the Dublin/Monaghan bombings.”

“And if that was not bad enough, Windsor will attend events at the Garden of Remembrance and Trinity College within yards of the site of the explosions at Parnell Street, Talbot Street and South Leinster Street where 26 people were killed.  The British state continue to this day to thwart all efforts to reveal the truth about British military involvement in those bombings.”

Leeson also revealed the reasons behind the inclusion at Saturday's protest of a piece of street theatre that will see an effigy of Elizabeth Windsor symbolically beheaded in a mock guillotine.

“The guillotine has been chosen to make a very serious political point. It is closely associated with the French revolution, when the people of that country threw off the chains of monarchy in favour of freedom and republicanism based on equality, liberty and fraternity. And that was over two hundred years ago.”

“Yet two centuries later our people are still expected to bend the knee to a woman who was born into her role as head of the British state and commander-in-chief of the British military – a state and a military which
continue to occupy the Six Counties.”

He concluded:  “The mock guillotining of Elizabeth Windsor symbolises that which needs to happen to all of those political and economic systems which are based upon inherited privilege, imperialism and class. The time of monarchy, imperialism and exploitation is well and truly past. Nothing makes that point quite as clearly as the guillotine.”

Resist Normalisation – Oppose Armed Forces Day

Britain's Armed Forces Day takes place this Saturday (June 26). As well as the many triumphalist and jingoistic parades and events that are taking place throughout Britain, events to mark Armed Forces Day are disgracefully to be held in a number of locations within the occupied six counties here in Ireland. Amongst the events on Saturday to mark this occasion will be the raising of a British military flag over Belfast City Hall.

If we were to believe the official Armed Forces Day website, the day is “an annual opportunity for the nation to Show Your Support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community”.

Indeed earlier this week British Prime Minister David Cameron was also urging people to support Armed Forces Day and wave the union jack. Cameron claimed that “there is huge respect for the Armed Forces community out there, and I want that expressed more loudly and more proudly. As someone once said, silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone – so next Saturday I hope we see an explosion of red, white and blue all over the country.”

Contrary to Cameron's suggestion, the Irish people do not have 'huge respect' for the British army. Contempt would be a more apt description of Irish peoples views of a military force responsible for Bloody Sunday and many other massacres in Ireland and around the world.

Cameron also needs to be reminded also that the six counties are not his country. They are an integral part of our national terroritory. They are not now and never will be a part of Britain.

British troops have no right to be here in any part of our country. For Irish republicans and nationalists, Armed Forces Day is a deliberate insult to those who suffered at the hands of the British army throughout their occupation which continues to this day. It is an insult to all the families of those who were murdered directly by the British army or by loyalist death squads acting in collusion with the British army.

Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey described the 'celebrations' as obscene and an attempt to normalise the continued occupation of our country.

Casey said: “There most definitely is nothing to 'celebrate' about one of the world's most murderous military forces.”

“The British army record in Ireland has been a lengthy, shameful and bloody one. Their occupation, which continues to this day, has been one of intimidation, political repression, assault, torture, collusion and murder. More than 5000 troops remain in the six counties with the Special Reconaissance Regiment (SRR), effectively an undercover British army death squad, back on the streets of the six-counties once more.”

He added: “To 'celebrate' and 'glorify' a force with such an appalling human rights record and a propensity for mass murder is truly obscene. It is nothing short of trampling over the graves of their victims, especially coming less than two weeks after the publication of the Saville Report which was a damning indictment of the British army massacre of civil rights marchers on the streets of Derry on Bloody Sunday 1972.”

“It is also a blatant attempt by the British Government to attempt to normalise the six counties and the continued occupation. However, just like previous attempts at 'normalisation' by successive British governments, republican opposition will ensure that this attempt is doomed to failure also.”

“While some people may now be willing to support a policy of 'normalisation' and administer the occupation from Stormont, Irish Republicans will never accept or legitimise it, will never accept British troops in our country and will continue to resist that occupation for as long as it continues.”

Casey concluded: “Like the British army, éirígí will be marking Armed Forces Day. Unlike the British army, we will not be celebrating their murderous deeds. éirígí will be holding a demonstration to oppose these events taking place in our country outside City Hall in Belfast at 12 midday. Oppose British imperialism and the continued occupation of the six counties and Afghanistan. Bigí linn.”