Issue 134, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (June, 1998)

              i 134 june — meitheamh 1998 i ^ assis §&**._ wolfe tone commemoration june 14 1998 • the british army and ruc attacks on the nationalist residents of the garvaghy road to facilitate an orange march on may 30 show that the reality of british rule has not changed bodenstown sunday r&id mary ward assemble 2pm sallins co kildare for ceol agus amhrain 1798 bands welcome organised by republican sinn fein buses clare contact martin calligan tel 065 53105 dublin leaves virgin megastore aston ouav idm blakes tavern blanchardstown leave 12.30pm taille 4 limerick hassetts cross 9.50am upper gerald griffin street 10am western church 10.15am taille 10 nationalist ireland stampeded into than the con-trick of two referendums in two separate areas of ireland on may 22 last has seen the return of stormont to administer for britain an artificial area carved out of this country the stormont agreement is less than what was in the sunningdale agreement of 1 973 — it contained a stronger council of ireland — and more has been given by the 26-county administration in the scrapping of articles 2 & 3 and the acceptance of a council of the british isles insofar as the stormont deal is a stepping-stone it is a stepping-stone away from a free and independent ireland by reimposing a stormont-type regime as an obstacle on the road to freedom like the old stormont it will be a barrier administration between the irish people and the british government it will also be a source of dispensing patronage to attempt to bind people to it the referendums campaign were carefully stagemanaged by a totally compliant media one newspaper in dublin even commissioned very dubious opinion polls in regard to the six counties which consisted of pollsters in london telephoning people at random in the six counties to seek their political opinions the churches and schools were used as political platforms in some places to urge acceptance of the stormont deal pop stars and business millionaires were flown in to back up an internal settlement however the euphoria is dying away as the reality of the situation in the six counties hits home the orange marchers who forced their way down the garvaghy road on may 30 while the crown forces batoned and fired plastic bullets at protesting nationalist residents is a foretaste of events to come signs are not wanting that the destabilisation process has already begun a major weakness in the stormont agreement is that all the concessions to nationalists are based on commissions which in the case of the ruc probably means there will be no substantial change in britain's paramilitary police force in the six counties the unionists realising this are forcing the provisionals in the direction of handing up arms that this is serious is underlined by the fact that billy hutchinson on the loyalist side and francie molloy of tyrone for the provisionals have been appointed as go-betweens with the armed groups to facilitate decommissioning another sign of this unravelling was the failure of the peace bandwagon to budge the gaa into dropping rule 21 banning crown forces membership and the re-emergence of the rogue factor in the leinster house administration with the ray burke financial revelations has seen cracks emerging in the fianna fail/progressive democrat coalition the poll results in the six majority-nationalist con stituencies in the six counties on may 22 are worth examining mid-ulster recorded a 21 no vote while newry/armagh 18 west tyrone 17 and foyle 16 were close to that figure in fermanagh/south tyrone the figure for no votes was 13 and in west belfast it was 12 similarly the larger no in the 26 counties in kerry north and cork north central both 7.2 wexford 6.7 and in dublin south central and monaghan both 6.4 no are worthy of attention overall in the 26 counties the 5.6 no vote compares to the core republican vote in the 1981 h-block(5%plus)and 1957 5.3 general election votes the republican vote in the 1 927 general election and in the referendum on the 1937 constitution 6.6 spoiled votes following direction from the republican leadership also bear comparison bearing in mind the low turnout of 56 in the 26 counties only 52 of the electorate there backed the stormont agreement republican sinn fein must now organise and put itself at the head of the 85,748 no voters south of the border as the only political body which stood up and campaigned against the sell out throughout the island in what is not a free election in the six counties to the new stormont given the political test oath for candidates imposed by the british government republican sinn fein is calling for a boycott of the june 25 poll while continuing to attempt to break through to the unionist population with our plans for a new four-province federation with maximum devolution to local level we call on nationalists to boycott the stormont assembly as the keystone to the current process don't stormont give roots to