Issue 110, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (June, 1996)

              the voice of irish republicanism uimh110 meitheamh — june 1996 5op usa 1 saoirse on the web saoirse is now available electronically on the internet with our own world wide web site at http://indigo.ie/~saoirse/index.htm visit our web site for access to articles in this month's saoirse as well as information on republican sinn fein full details on page 16 30 m til % anti-stormont campaign funds are urgently needed to defray the costs of the anti-stormont campaign during the boycott of the english election farce on may 30 last several thousand pounds were spent in taking ads in newspapers printing leaflets and posters etc the anti stormont campaign is on-going and will continue to work for a complete boycott of the new stormont/'forum any donations can be given to the following antrim geraldine taylor belfast frank mccarry ballycastle armagh paddy mckenna eamonlarkin south armagh derry michael mcgonigle dungiven alice fleming deny city down marie carlin s6amas mccrickard south down fermanagh michael mcmanus michael lavelle tyrone jimmy mcelhinney pauline mcateer i gcoiooe the results of the stormont forum election on may 30 have led to mi speculation about a renewed provisional ceasefire decommissioning and th attendance or not at the june 10 talks such speculation misses the point that t real victors in the elective process are the british government who have1 dra more people than ever before into constitutional six-county politics and th bought time for their continued presence in ireland whether the provisionals are part of the talks to reimpose stormont rule on june 10 makes no difference - the current process will proceed and the thrust of the provisionals movement is now unstoppably towards reformism if they don't attend on june 10 they will do so on july 10 september next or in june 1997 all that matters is that they are now enmeshed in constitutionalism from which like the stickies and fianna fail before them there is no turning back the increase in the nationalist electorate and the total nationalist poll significant boundary changes and tactical voting by former sdlp supporters were all factors that saw both the provisional and sdlp votes increase however a comparison with the 1983 westminster election - the previous nationalist poll high-point - is revealing in 1983 a united sinn fein fought on a revolutionary basis with the slogan principled leadership and secured 43 of the nationalist poll in 1996 the provisionals contested on the reformist basis of an internal settlement with a slogan borrowed from the alliance party vote for peace and received one per cent less ie 42 of the total nationalist poll impact the boycott call by republican sinn f&n had its most obvious impact in fermanagh south tyrone where boundary changes have been minimal and resulted in a drop of more than 8,000 in the combined nationalist vote in comparison with the 1983 turnout there was a lesser impact in the foyle constituency and overall the turnout was well down in nationalist constituencies again in fermanagh/south tyrone the turnout for this election was down more than 12.5 per cent compared to 1983 republican sinn fe"in stated unequivocally during this farcical election process that the all ireland republic struggled for through 25 years of sacrifice would not be achieved by casting votes for any of the parties chosen by england to participate it warned the parties seeking national votes that they could not deceive the peopl forever with their empty promises that the c process creates the conditions for derrt ireland there were no republicans s election farce none of the candi upon britain to withdraw its forces forever no party stood by the iris genuine right to democracy with united and free to govern themselves in pe th stepping-stones republican sinn fein was excluded by britain from this anti-democratic process because it would not compromise with her rule in jsefend there can be no stepping-stones or halfway houses to a 32-county irish republic and acceptance of the unionist agenda wh'ieh prevail at the forum and the all-party 4alks w merely perpetuate the injustice that brram ¦ inflicted on the irish people * f there can be only one solution and hat is a british declaration of intent to withdraw.those who have any doubts about the talks should consider the following the british are not moving on the question of occupying i six counties and the uup and dup have stateu that they won't negotiate on the constitutional question therefore what is on the agenda amounts to an updated stormont with cross-border committees something that is recognised by all honest commentators on the current process significantly both gerry adams and mitchell mclaughlin of the provisionals stated during the election process that their organisation would give their allegiance to whatever comes out of the talks this means in effect that they will attempt to enforce it on their supporters and the nationalist population in what would be the creation of the ultimate nationalist nightmare - a northern free state acting in the interests of britain with of course an economy of british lives part of this scenario also would be the gradual emergence of one big party out of the present sdlp/provisional organisations similar to the old nationalist party before 1969 • *•? wolfe tone commemoration bodenstown june 16 1996 assemble 2.30pm sallins co kildare oration john mcelhinney tyrone buses leave dublin virgin megastore 1 30pm 3 galway eyre square 9am 5 in advance tel 091-525977 limerick contact joe lynch tel 061-31 1457 clare contact martin calligan tel 065-53105 other areas contact your saoirse paper sellers or tel dublin 729747 . . 	 theobald wolfe tone