Issue 087, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (July, 1994)

              uimh 87 iuil - july 1994 50p usa 75c 375,10 - — ^ i unemployed as the official jobless figures in the 32 counties dropped by several thousand last month redundancies continue to pile up - team aer | lingus has laid off 800 workers nie in the six counties has laid off 200 while over 1 000 jobs are threatened at the irish steel plant in cork harbour slaughter of nationalists death work the scene ato'toole's bar loughinisland co down after six men were shot dead by the uvf british-backed death squad on june 18 hunger strike martyrs commemoration bundoran saturday august 27 2pm the killing of six nationalists by the uvf british-backed death squad in o'toole's bar loughinisland co down on june 18 as they watched the world cup resulted in the predictable chorus of ritual condemnations from the british and irish establishments it was not lost on the suffering nationalist population of the six counties however that in the aftermath of the massacre the political interpretation of their actions was paramount as far as these politicians and church leaders were concerned pope john paul sent a message of condolences to the bereaved and then not to be outdone the queen of england dispatched a one-line statement nationalists commented on the fact that the dublin administration sent no message to the relatives of the six men and none of their representatives attended the funerals equally the proposed minute ' s silence before the world cup match between the 26-county team and mexico was not widely observed because the dublin media did not promote it there were no votes of sympathy by public bodies and no books of condolences being advertised daily on rte television and radio it is important that it be clearly understood why atrocities such as the loughinisland massacre take place the british-backed loyalist death squads have said why very clearly it is in their words to remove all threats to the union they have i a political agenda and it is to break the will of the nationalist people to terrorise them into abandoning their opposition to british rule and thus give up their rights to a new ireland negotiated by the irish people themselves without outside interference the immediate cause has been stated by the uvf to be the shooting of one of the leaders of the death squad by the inla on belfast's shankill road two days previously enraged by a blow which struck home they hit out blindly on the basis that any nationalist will do and the more the better as far as they are concerned these activities from the 1 920s through to 1966 to the present have been shown to be promoted by the briti sh occupation forces as the work of their irregular wing from the massacre of the macmahon family in 1 922 through the special reprisal unit led by ric district inspector nixon to british agent brian nelson as head ofuff intelligence the pattern has been the same it is time it was recognised as such and not dismissed as tit-for-tat killings the old question is cui bonol who gains by these activities certainly british rule stands to gain certainly not the nationalist people for them it is the old and familiar situation of croppies lie down