Issue 040, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (August, 1990)

              30p usa 22 per year uimh 40 lunasa august issn 0791 - 0002 following the death of english tory mp ian gow steel ramps were erected outside no 10 downing street on tuesday night july 31 british prime minister margaret thatcher made an impassioned plea to her minions to take extra care against irish rebels she was but echoing the words of queen elizabeth i and underlining her country's long domination and fear of ireland rule britannia had once more proved fallible and england inept the death of ian gow ianism he lived in the conflict he found an out imperial past and was proud of his nickname the british bulldog will not be lamented by many irish people he per sonified all that was evil in british rule he gloated over the deaths of the 1981 hunger strike ten the gibraltar three and was a rabid supporter of paisley's unionist sectar gow was a typical pro duct of the post second world war british estab lishment too young to participate in a major let for his fascist tend encies in the british army in which he served in omagh co tyrone while serving in malaya his goebbels-like talents were much appreciated by the psy-ops department of that terrorist organsation instrumental gow was instrumental in bringing thatcher to pow er in britain he fashioned her policies in political economic and social terms thatcher's isolation from the current mainstream of european political think ing is due in no small measure to the warped mind of ian gow in his view england saw no evil heard no evil and did no evil as was expected free state politicians bent over backwards in siding with england on this issue from stickie left to con stipated right all free state politicians were unit ed in their condemnations they condemned the death of a human being for the wrong reasons the reasons were political grief is universal it knows no boundaries be they race colour or creed jane gow and her two sons bear grief at this time and irish republicans understand we have seen a lot of grief on our streets in our homes in jails and graveyards can there be an end to the cause of suffering ? solution there is a solution to 800 years of strife eng land and english govern ments must accept that they have no place in ireland now they must declare their commit ment to withdraw from ireland and then and only then shall england take her place among the nat ions of europe and remove the ramps from no 10 downing street hunger-strike martyrs commemoration sat 25th august assemble east end at 3pm speaker daithio conaill extradition decisions the statement of the french justice minis try in refusing to seek the extradition of adrian hopkins on friday july 27 last was not given any proper attention in the irish media north or south the justice ministry spokesman said the french were not going to seek the extradition of hopkins as it was contrary to international law to extradite their own citizens france in common with seven other european coun tries will not extradite their own citizens they there fore refuse to ask the dublin administration to extradite an irish citizen to france because they regard it as a principle of international law not to do so the fact that this statement pointed up the treachery of the dublin administration's extradition policy to bri tain meant that it was fudged by the broadcast media who simply said the french authorities were not seek ing to extradite adrian hopkins without giving the rea son for it protection the french authorities in 1988 refused to hand over harry flynn to the british thus giving more protection to irish citizens than the coalition administration in the 26 counties is prepared to do at the time the french jcited the special court harry flynn would be tried by jand the likelihood of persecution as reasons for refusing jthe extradition request i meanwhile dublin's high court has refused dubliner desmond ellis appeal against an extradition order to britain on conspiracy charges sometime between jan juary 1 1981 and october 27 1983 when he was not jeven in britain the contrast with the french decisions is jglaring