Issue 133, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (May, 1998)

              uimh 133 may — bealtaine 1998 50p usa 1 readers of this newspaper can be assured that not alone will the provisionals participate in a new stormont but they will take office under the british crown in an executive and work the six-county assembly to the full the decision of the provisionals ard chomhairle announced on may 6 to propose to their ard-fheis firstly that they vote cyes north and south to the stormont agreement and secondly that they drop abstentionism in relation to stormont is a logical step in their transformation into a reformist constitutional party in doing so of course the provisionals have broken all the pledges they gave in the past e.g in 1986 when proposing participation in the dublin leinster house assembly martin mcguinness said i can give a commitment on behalf of the leadership that we have absolutely no intention of going to westminster or stormont page 13 magill magazine november 13 1986 the provisionals have now taken several historic and irrevocable steps 1 accepting the 26-county state 2 accepting the so-called northern ireland statelet and 3 the war of national liberation as far as they are concerned has been stopped again in the same 1986 speech mcguinness told delegates our position is very clear and it will never never never change the war against british rule must continue until freedom is achieved it remains only for them to a act in collaboration with the british forces of occupation against those who continue the struggle and b to enter the enemy's house and accept the british parliament at westminster they will then be totally integrated into the british system in ireland the provos are the latest spare wheel to be pressed into service by the british crown standing in succession to fine gael fianna fail and democratic left/the workers party the constitution of sinn fein for many decades up to the unrepresentative ard-fheis of 1986 stated in part 6 that going into leinster house or stormont will be regarded as an act of treachery to be dealt with as such this pledge for sinn fein candidates standing at parliamentary elections was of course removed by the provos when they embarked on the constitutional and reformist road in 1986 republican sinn fein however still adheres to the intact constitution of sinn fein the scales have surely fallen now from the eyes of even the most naive of provisional supporters they can no longer be blinded to the intentions of this leadership and they should dissociate from them now or face being sucked into the british system themselves in the course of this deterioration the provisional movement has reduced its military organisation to the level of a mere party militia as happened the officials in the 1970s any talk of going in to stormont to wreck it has now been dropped they are going in there to work it and garner whatever fruits they can of their collaboration with british rule there annual testimonial dinner and ceili west county hotel chnpelizod 1998 honorees paddy duffy ulster sile heneghan connacht willie valsh tvlvmster seamus ntac suain leinster peter and ellen farley usa friday 15th may 1998 full four course meal music by pafjy farrell c3 the connolly folk group taille 13 vote no to stormont deal as we went to press the republican sinn fein vote no campaign against the stormont agreement referendum on may 22 was continuing more than 100,000 leaflets in irish and english had been distributed and a second printing ordered over 5,000 posters in both languages had been put up and more were being printed the demand for no literature by the public had exceeded expectations an obvious sign of dissatisfaction with the media coverage of those opposed to the deal the number of undecided voters was still high rte's decision on may 5 to air no uncontested party political broadcasts on the referendum also showed the establishment's determination to deny valuable air-time to no campaigners in particular republican sinn fein spokespersons - the leading no campaigners in most of the country — were placed in a downgraded position in relation to yes campaigners and even as against no campaigners among the unionists republican sinn fein had detected great concern in the six-county area over the return of stormont and at a press conference in belfast on may 5 ruairi 6 bradaigh challenged the apologists for a yes vote to indicate how could a new stormont be a transition to a free and independent ireland it was in fact a stepping stone leading away from such a new ireland republican sinn fein's alternative of british disengagement from ireland and a nine-county ulster parliament in a federation of the four provinces with links to the other celtic countries was being presented at every opportunity often to people who had not heard of it previously the reality that the stormont agreement would not bring a just and lasting peace was gaining currency in the wake of the deaths of uninvolved nationalists such as adrian lamph and ciaran heffron the notion that two seperate referendums in the six counties and 26 counties with the british remaining in ireland could be an exercise in national self-determination was rejected by republican sinn fein both mo mowlam and before her patrick may hew had said that the decision in the six counties was what counted even dick spring as far back as may 26 1994 said that the two separate referendums won't be an all-ireland referendum since the island is divided in the 26 counties the lie in the agreement that the six counties were no longer part of the irish nation was gathering support for the no campaign a no vote will send britain back to the drawing board where it would be forced to consider a withdrawal in a planned and orderly fashion • cases ofharassment of republican sinn fein referendum workers by the forces of the 26 county state are outlined on page 2 inside bodenstown sunday june 14 1998