Issue 109, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (May, 1996)

              the voice of irish republicanism republican seize opportunities 23 — uimh 109 bealtaine — may 1996 50p usa 1 a public meeting in dublin on april 24 the 80th anniversary of the easter rising was told republicans must seize the present opportunities to gather support among the people who are becoming increasingly alienated from the partition states the challenge was to turn the negative attitude of a great number of the electorate into a positive desire for a totally new system in a 32-county ireland see inside page 9 m o co s oycott campaign gainin groun the anti-stormont campaign launched by republican sinn fein in monaghan on april 15 has been gaining ground in its plans for an active boycott of the six county sham election on may 30 posters and leaflets produced by the campaign have been well received in the six counties and the regular organisation meetings are now being attended by people on a broader basis than republican sinn fein fermanagh independent councillor tony mcphillips who already called for an election boycott himself has attended campaign meetings and kevin boland and others have indicated their intention to do so the torrent of criticism of the english election farce from independent nationalists and independent-minded commentators has contrasted with the lack of criticism of mayhew's list of organisations and individuals allowed to take part in the poll by the sdlp and the provisionals the dublin administration and many human rights groups • it is clear that the may 30 poll is an undemocratic election within an undemocratic state the british have not only selected their list of candidates allowed to stand but are also deciding what persons within each party can select the negotiation teams for the supposed talks on june 10 • the british document on the elections being delivered to households throughout the six counties reveals what people are being asked to vote for — the elections are to produce delegates for negotiations on the way forward for northern ireland . there is no mention of peace talks for all-ireland as the talks will solely be concerned with the future of the six-county state disregard • even to the staunchest unionists the events of the pastmonth have shown thebritish government's disregard for democracy when in the aftermath of the mad cow disease/cjd crisis in britain farmers and indeed the majority of people in the six counties wanted to be treated differently and separate from britain the english government said no the process of counting the votes in the annual testimonial dinner and ceili friday may 17 1996 8pm west county hotel cnapelizod co dublin 1996 honorees tf0 charlie dineen leinster joe bray usa larry walsh connacht susie mulcahy munster frank mccaughey tickets available from 223 parnell street tel 872 9747 • unelected by any irish voter patrick mayhew decided who can run in t ^ election in the six counties — give this man a message by boycotting the election may 30 election is also undemocratic in that it is weighted towards the bigger parties and could involve the transfer of nationalist votes to unionists or vice versa for example a party receiving 47 of the vote would secure 60 of the seats in a constituency it is a complicated system which aims to avoid the single transferable vote the deny journal on april 20 described the election as a unionist political masterstroke which has succeeded in getting what they wanted — the sabotaging of all-party talks see page 3 for des wilson's criticism anti-stormont campaign director cllr joe o'neill said on april 1 5 that republican sinn fein regards the may 30 elections as an insult to the irish people as a whole and especially to the irish people living in the six counties once again england is dictating to the people of this island both nationalist and unionist as to who they can vote for and what they can vote for republican sinn fein president ruairi 6 bradaigh called on easter sunday on all those who opposed the present process as leading inevitably to a new stormont to work together to actively boycott the may 30 elections on april 6 the herald group of newspapers in the six counties described the british list of 1 5 organisations who were being allowed to take part in the may 30 election as a mockery of the idea that elections should be free another independent nationalist seamus kerr of tyrone has announced that he will challenge the new election legislation in the courts when it becomes statute on april 10 he called the plans the most insidious attack on democracy since the days of gerrymandering the belfast-based campaign for economic equality described the electoral list as an insidious and insulting extension of the abuse of civil liberties human rights and freedom of speech . the campaign said on april 1 1 that it hoped to organise a challenge to the election through the belfast high court the european court of human rights and the international court of justice theandersonstown news april 6 wondered in its editorial why the british government didn't save us all a lot of trouble and publish the results of the election as well the paper went on to say that it did not accept the validity of the six-county state and neither we contend do the vast majority of our readers voters in the six counties are recognising that the election farce is designed to produce only one result — the return of a stormont assembly under a new guise there are those who will tell the electorate that they will not enter a stormont assembly but will do so if it has cross-border trappings and a different name or is agreed by the pan-nationalists voters should not be fooled however by this double-speak use your f ote by staving at home on may 30 make your vote count by refusing to participate in a sham election anti-stormont campaign election boycott fund funds are urgently needed to finance the boycott campaign for the may 30 election in the six occupied counties already several thousand pounds have been spent in taking ads in newspapers printing leaflets and posters etc help us to get the message across that a boycott is the best way to block the return of a new stormont any donations can be given to the following antrim geraldine taylor belfast frank mccarry ballycastle armagh paddy mckenna eamon larkin south armagh derry michael mcgonigle dungiven alice fleming derry city down marie carlin seamas mccrickard south down fermanagh michael mcmanus michael lavelle tyrone jimmy mcelhinney pauline mcateer (