Issue 073, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (May, 1993)

              uimh 73 bealtaine - may 1993 40p britain 45p usa s24 per year 403.116 unemployed number officially out of work in the 32 counties in april reached 403,1 16 the call for a switch to indigenous irish industry and away from multinationals to tackle unemployment in republican sinn fein's saol nua programme was echoed recently by kay kearns vice president of the shop worker union idatu foreign owned companies export 4 billion a year in profits from the 26 counties she said to order copies of saol nua see page 8 	 pictured at the republican sinn fein local elections press conference in belfast on april 22 are left to right des long leas-uachtardn mary ward ruairi o bradaigh uach tardn ex-councillors eamon larkin and michael mcgonigle michael lavelle election candidates banned i declare that if elected i will not by word or deed express support for or approval of - a any organisation that is for the time being a proscribed organisation specified in schedule 2 to the northern ireland emergency provisions act 1978 or b acts of terrorism that is to say violence for political ends connected with the affairs of northern ireland • the text of the political test oath which all candidates must sign republican sinn fein's candidates in the six-county local elections in may 19 have been banned from standing because they refused to sign the political test oath on their nomination papers which means a publicly disowning the republican movement and b denying the right of the irish people to resist british rule in ireland ruairi 6 bradaigh president of republi can sinn fein paid a surprise visit to belfast on thursday april 22 backed by more than 20 potential local election candidates from all parts of the six counties he told a press conference that the organisation was ex cluded from public life and demanded the removal of the political test oath speaking to journalists in west belfast he said that no republican could sign such a solemn and public declaration and remain a republican he or she cannot publicly deny his or her beliefs he stressed that republican sinn fein was the living embodiment of the idea that the irish people's allegiance is due to the 32 county republic of 1 9 1 6 and of the first dail iiireann in 1919 and not to either of the partition statelets in ireland ireland's right to national independence could not be bar gained away we were banned from local elections before from 1 922 to 1 973 by an oath of allegiance to the british crown yet the republican movement survived those years and will survive again he said at the last local elections in 1 989 a total of 23 candidates including three sitting coun cillors put forward by republican sinn fein were denied nomination and a large number of republican voters disenfranchised be cause of their refiisal to sign the political test oath introduced by mrs thatcher's tory government in britain 95 per cent she later said that 95 per cent of candi dates in the six counties had accepted her restrictions on elections - the five per cent who did not held to the true republican position of rejecting british institutions in any part of ireland this of course can be the only basis for opposing colonial rule in our country the denial of free and fair elections is a negation of democracy and as such is a civil rights issue many who have been vocal in their alleged espousal of democracy have chosen to ignore this point entirely democracy in ireland is denied in the first place by the existence of partition since 1 922 which set up an artificial local majority in the six northeastern counties a democratic solution is therefore impossible within a six county context but even within the british-occupied area the maximisation of the nationalist vote - which reached over 240,000 votes in the may 1 985 local elections - is prevented by the re imposition of a political test oath since 1 989 true peace justice and freedom the way forward to peace leaflets are ijlable 5 per 500 from oifig eire nua 41 arran quay dublin 7 there should therefore be an end to the pretence of free and fair elections in the six occupied counties carrot and stick at the belfast press conference ruairi 6 bradaigh was also asked by journalists about the recent talks between john hume and gerry adams he replied that it was a case of the carrot and stick1 approach with hume encouraging adams to fall into line with the next phase of talks about an internal settle ment in the six counties hume is also pointing out the dire conse quences which will face the provisional movement at the hands of both the british and dublin governments if it does not take part in shaping stormont he said we have increased our numbers tr>e republican sinn fein office and saoirse dublin telephone and fax numbers have changed to telephone 8729747 fax 872 9757