Issue 108, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (April, 1996)

              the voice of irish republicanism uimh 108 aibrean — april 1996 50p usa 1 wear an easter lily honour ireland's dead easter statement from the leadership of the republican movement see page 9 british select parties for stormont the british plan to decide who can stand in the may 30 sham elections in the six counties and the publication on april 1 of their list of 15 pet political parties who are acceptable to them and therefore allow to stand in the poll have brought the whole process to the level of farce election by invitation only was one description of it and the british have even nominated one person per party to choose their list of candidates and at the end of this farce are all-party talks confined solely to the six counties controlled by unionists with access to them dependent on acceptance of the mitchell report which accepts partition as bernadette mcaliskey pointed out in the belfast telegraph march 20 discussion will be confined to readjusting six-county politics and establishing a neighbourly relationship with the south without compromising the british claim to the north there is nothing on the table for republicans she said in this context the republican sinn fein call for a boycott of the may 30 elections has gained more and more currency independents such as seamus kerr former chairperson of omagh district council have called for a nationalist boycott of the elections within the last month there was an emerging nationalist consensus on the futility of participation in this particular election he said the new ireland group have described the british election plan to allow 15 organisations to take part as patronage and contempt for hard won democratic principle in our view the hidden agenda lies deep in fears which reside in english ruling class psyche john robb and jack mcdowell said on april 2 on behalf of the new ireland group fear that same fear saw the british administration impose in 1988 the political test oath on all candidates at nomination in local and stormont elections candidates must subscribe to a solemn declaration publicly rejecting the republican movement and denying the right to engage in acts of resistance to british rule in ireland the same fear that saw them choose 15 political parties who are all engaged in one way or another in the current process there is no place for organisations opposed to the process in the british government's plan it is reminiscent of the homeland parties approved by the south african apartheid regime who created those artificial statelets the only sane response to this is to call for all nationally-minded people to boycott the new stormont and to boycott the elections to it this would undermine the whole british strategy wedded as it is to unionism and the establishment of a six-county assembly with a semblance of legitimacy that whitehall could then hand over responsibility to after all who in ireland has ever voted for patrick mayhew or john major the architects of this so-called elective process the boycott plan becomes more especially relevant in a period that has seen the extradition by the us administration of an irish political prisoner to britain the decision by dublin to hand over nessan quinlivan and pearse mccauley to the british and the introduction of new stop and search powers for the british police which will result in more intensive harassment of the irish community there it should not be forgotten either that no releases of irish political prisoners has been the policy in the six counties britain or the us over the period since the provisional ceasefire in august 1994 it is time to draw a dividing line between british democracy in ireland and true all ireland democracy which demands that the irish people acting as a single unit determine their own future free from outside interference the six-county state is an artificial creation born out of the denial by force of irish democracy in the 1920s ignoring this reality can only result in further conflict in the future no participation in stormont elections 80th anniversary of easter 1916 atdrdat april 20 1996 assemble garden of remembrance parnell square 2.30pm march to gpo speakers mary ward liam cotter sean mac oscair ^_ donations towards the cost involved in organising the event would be much appreciated and acknowledged 	 please send to an runaf coiste cuimhneachain naisiunta 223 parnell street dublin 1