Issue 121, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (May, 1997)

              . - irish freedom j the voice of the republican movement uimh 121 bealtaine — may 1997 50p usa 1 dilseacht seolta a large crowd filled the main hall in an chulturlann dublin on thursday april 24 — the 8 1 st anniversary of the 1916 easter rising — for the launch of the long-awaited book dilseacht the story ofcomdt general tom maguire and the second all-ireland dai i by ruairi 6 bradaigh copies are now available from irish freedom press 4.95 paperback and 8.50 hardback not including postage see page 3 inside • gavin mckenna 12 with his mother kathleen in the royal victoria hospital in belfast child victim of british terror a twelve year-old boy is the latest victim of british terror's favourite control weapon - the plastic bullet gun gavin mckenna from lurgantarry lurgan co armagh was collecting wood for a bonfire when he was fired on by a british soldier on saturday night april 26 his mother kathleen denied crown forces allegations of youths rioting prior to the attack he and his friends were gathering material for a bonfire at the time nobody was stoning anybody she said he is in and out of consciousness doctors are not sure if he will be able to see out of his left eye again the nerve is damaged t may heal or it may not there is nothing they can do he says le saw something and then turned around he doesn't remember seeing the soldier as it all happened so quickly gavin's father noel mckenna has lodged a complaint with he british paramilitary police ruc he said he was angry that lis son who plays hurling may lose his sight 1 want that soldier harged with attempted murder if he is notcharged with attempted nurder i want to know why i will not rest until 1 have some nswers as to why a young boy can be shot at point-blank range with a plastic bullet noel mckenna said i le said gavin's friend had tried to pick him up off the ground efore a garage owner took him to craigavon hospital blood was pouring out of his eye and he the garage owner said the skin was pulled back and you could see the skull westminste acul to freedom i regardless of the outcome of the may 1 westminster election to a british parliament it has marked a significant shift in the provisional strategy of recognising british rule in ireland their promise if elected to attend at the palace of westminster frequently and every fortnight was described by the belfast irish news april 2 as an important shift in strategy and another small step along the road to full participation in the british parliament this announcement came two days after a display of weapons by the provisionals in north belfast designed to act as a smokescreen to cover the provisionals move to become what the sunday tribune on april 6 called a slightly abstcntionist party it bears repeating as republican sinn fein did at its press conference and in a leaflet distributed in the six counties before may 1 that sinn fein was established in 1905 to take the centre of political gravity in ireland away from westminster out of london and move it back to ireland the republican movement was established equally to draw power from the british parliament and to establish irish democracy and independence for the whole island free from british rule what a far cry from this to the provisionals promise to open an office in london after the election to raise its political profile at westminster in fact what we are witnessing with the prov isionals is a counter-revolution an attempt to stop the revolutionary tide in ireland and drive it back into constitutional reformism those who point to the gun display in ardoyne and the recent disruption in england need to ask firstly where is all this leading and secondly what terms are being sought by the provisionals to stop this activity equally they need to examine under what conditions will the provisionals turn on everybody else who refuses to take the counter-revolutionary path a third feature of the provisionals election stance was their childlike faith in the british labour party and its return to power this total reliance on british labour flies in the face of all reason and experience in ireland during this century it will raise people's hopes only to have them dashed again and begs the question are the provisionals grasping at straws the british labour party has come a long way since 1 92 1 when its policy was self determination for the people of ireland as a whole provided 1 there was protection for minorities and 2 ireland would not be used as a basis for an attack on england by 1949 it was the british labour party which enacted the ireland act gi ving an entrenched veto to the unionist regime at stormont over any change in the constitutional status of the six counties they were responsible in 1974 for the infamous prevention of terrorism act and when harold wilson and merlyn rees were replaced by james callaghan and roy mason in 1976 a litany of repression was inflicted on occupied ireland the policy of criminalisation involving the building of the h-blocks oflong kesh and the withdrawal of political status there normalisation and ulsterisation was introduced and the sas were sent into south armagh the road to irish freedom does not lead into the blind alley of westminster while westminster is a cul-de-sac to irish freedom its creations leinster house and stonnont are obstacles to irish freedom annual testimonial dinner and ceilj friday may 16 1997 8pm west county hotel chapelizod co dublin tickets available 13 each 1997 honorees tom concannon leinster joe dillon usa john joe ruane connacht mick fitzgibbon munster des cox ulster tickets available from 223 parnell street dublin 1 . tel 872 9747 wolfe tone commemoration bodenstown june 15 1997 assemble 2.30pm sallins co kildare oration mick mcmanus fermanagh buses leave dublin virgin megastorc 1 00pm 3 galway eyre square 9am 5 in advance tel 09 1 525977 limerick contact joe lynch tel 061-31 1457 clare contact martin calligan tel 065-53 1 05 other areas contact your saoirse paper sellers or tel dublin 872 9747 theobald wolfe tone