Issue 132, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (April, 1998)

              uimh 132 april — aibrean 1998 gradua freedom a the current process is being brought to a conclusion by the british and dublin governments during april without any agreement on important issues such as policing justice prisoners and even cross-border bodies they are to be shelved and referred to independent commissions where have we heard all this before on this 82nd anniversary of the rising of 1916 the easter message from the republican leadership points out the reality that the current process will not bring about british withdrawal from ireland the objective sought by the men and women who gave their lives for ireland's freedom in fact the irish people are being asked once again to indulge in an act of faith such as that agreed to by the pro-treaty side 77 years ago then those who signed the peace treaty placed their trust in the boundary commission which would settle the border issue between the free state and the six counties the treaty it was said gave us the freedom to achieve freedom and the 26 county state via the boundary commission would be a stepping-stone to complete irish national independence the pro-treaty side was fooled and fought a civil war for a boundary commission which ended up being abandoned four years later as a fiasco and nothing changed at all the irish people were disastrously divided and the stepping stone remained confined to the 26 counties in the six counties the stepping stone did not work and the situation there was in the complete opposite direction by the 1960s when the leinster house parties accepted the unionist veto in 1998 the arguments are the same dressed up in new clothes gradually freedom can be achieved via cross-border bodies which will constitute a transitional process to irish national independence have we learned nothing from the disasters of the past 77 years we know what the experience has been and should recognise these arguments as bogus — as in 1921-22 — there is no dynamic in this process to lead to a british withdrawal and a new ireland the 1998 easter statement from the leadership of the republican movement printed in full on page 9 inside states that the current process is about updating and strengthening english rule in ireland through a new stormont this will seek to involve as much of the nationalist population as possible and will be a barrier administration between the irish people and the imperialist british government such a new reinforced stormont will be much more difficult to remove than the old corrupt regime which was brought down by the people's struggle in 1972 the statement maintains it goes on to outline the most dangerous aspect of these proposals that those who work them will be required to support their implementation on the ground by actively opposing all who continue the struggle for irish freedom we already have an example of doing england's policing in the incident in deny city on march 20 when • on the 82nd anniversary of the historic easter rising of 1916 the old con-trick of the stepping-stone or transition ' to irish freedom is being foisted on the irish people once again wunteers of the continuity ira were physically interfered with by amember of the provisionals as they were carrying an explosive device to a nearby target the same organisation's political element are now demanding a 40 former nationalist input into a new police force under british control this new force would be required by their masters in england to police the nationalist population and put down those who remain revolutionary how can this possibly bring a permanent peace there are other dangers which must be spelt out to irish people in the weeks ahead and galvanise them to campaign for a no vote in any referendum on a new stormont firstly the mailed fist beneath the velvet glove of the 26-county state has been exposed by the 20-year sentences imposed on three men for possession of arms and explosives during february these were the heaviest sentences ever handed out for such activity also the conveyor belt of english extradition warrants being served on irish citizens continues see page 2 inside without any real protest from the victims own leadership secondly the naive belief that the loyalists will just sit back and allow a growing nationalist population to threaten their majority in the six counties is being promulgated at this time even an anti-republican like austin currie can see that this is a recipe for instability and continuing trouble leinster house march 31 the loyalists will respond as they always have - by killing uninvolved nationalists how much more efficiently can they do so if they have a new stormont in place withdavid trimble as chief executive officer and a built-in unionist majority a permanent peace can only be achieved by facing up to the problem and compelling the british government to leave ireland rather than shelving it while the irish people suffer the consequences for decades into the future t wear an lily honour ireland's dead • all areas are reminded to send reports and photographs of easter ceremonies to saoirse 223 parnell street dublin 1 immediately after april 1 12