Issue 041, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (September, 1990)

              uimh 41 mean fomhair - september 30p usa 22 per year issn 0791 - 0002 bulk rate us postage paid hummel dist corp return address saoirse box 1053 south orange n.j 07079 •:•?*: 50th anniversary ceremony of the execution by the free state of tom harte and paddy mcgrath september 9 1990 glasnevin cemetery dublin 11am assemble at gates edward street lurgan co armagh 3pm paddy hill john walker gerry hunter hugh callaghan dickmcilkenny bill power birmingham six appeal forced now that shame before the world has torced the british government into action at the end of august 1990 in referring the case of the birm ingham six back to the court of appeal in lon don six irish hostages in british jails can again look to the future with hope and determination this will be their third yet whether the british es appearance at the british court of appeal having been refused leave to appeal in march 1976 by lord widgery lord law ton and justice thompson and 12 years later having their appeal rejected by three more judges led by lord lane the lord chief justice of britain the fact that the heavy weights of the legal es tablishment in britain are deeply implicated in the framing of the birming ham six means that there must be no easing of the pressure that has built up throughout the world seeking justice chris mullin mp whose book has documented the men's case commented on august 29 when the decis ion was announced that the judges may well talk themselves out of this again it is far from clear tablishment really wants to use the excuse of the new information discov ered to release the six men or whether this is going to be another tra vesty of justice sending them back to prison again typical the recent remarks in the british spectator mag azine by lord denning that the birmingham six should have been hang ed and by sir james miskin former recorder of london that the free ing of the guildford four was mad are typical of the british establish ment's reaction to irish cases this establishment was allowed the freedom not to give evidence or appear before the may inquiry into the maguire seven and guildford four frame ups earlier this year these included lord donaldson now master of the rolls who was the trial judge in both cases and sir peter imbert now metropolitan police commissioner bri tain's no 2 policeman who interrogated the guildford four after their arrest in 1974 the frame-ups of the birmingham six guild ford four judith ward and the maguires in the 1970s resulted in promo tion for the judges and policemen involved and the framing of the win chester three in 1988 shows that it can still happen today if the mass ive campaign to free them had not been mobilised by their families and friends they would still be in pri son in this regard sinn f6in poblachtach president ruairi 6 bradaigh has pointed out in a statement on august 29 that judith ward now in a british jail for 16 years and seven months has not got a fam ily to organise protests for her and direct attention to her case will the worn ens organisations be silent he asks treachery exposed the willingness of the dublin administration to extradite irish citizens to the corrupt british judicial system stands exposed now more than ever for the national treachery that it represents dublin — and its alhes in the sdlp - re fused for over 15 years to seriously prosecute the british for their frame-ups of innocent irish people to do so would undermine their own policy of collab oration and handing over of their own citizens in the interests of british rule the credit for fighting british injustice lies with the ordinary irish people and the public opinion they have mobilised at home and abroad to right these wrongs now morel than ever it must bej followed through to ob tain the release compen-f sation and clearing of thej names of all britain's irishl hostages with redundancy notices due to be served on 500 gateaux workers on september 18 reports from finglas in dublin indicate that as early as january last normal orders for the end of 1990 were being turned away without explanation this information backs up the workers contention that the closure of the gateaux plant was carefully planned and that the original sacking of five bakers was designed to provoke a strike managing director gerry \ owens then upped the ante and sought 35 other redun dancies and the ending of bakers differentials and early morning payments these were rejected by workers on july 29 who pointed to the huge wastage in a viable plant that is badly managed this macho attitude by management continued with the announcement of eight weeks redundancy notice and the intention to retain 40 staff to market and dis tribute imported gateaux products lyons irish holdings which controls gateaux made 6.2 sinn ffiln poblachtach representatives at the ireland — the ml ay forward conference in belfast august 9-11 were able to outline to the delegates the eire nua proposals for new government structures in the 32-county repub lic which will exist in post-colonial ireland see report on conference conclusions on page 3 on friday morning august 10 frank mccarry glens of antrim of the ard chomhairle spoke at the delegate forum of eire nua's pro vision for strong provincial and local govern ment in a federation of the four historic prov inces this will ensure that every citizen can part icipate in a genuine demo cracy and that no group can dominate or exploit another in that new ire land poeple will have real power in their own comm unities for the first time he said these updated proposals will be officially launched within the next few weeks he said and delegates who wanted copies should leave their names and addresses with him and they would be forwarded to them the eire nua propos als closely associated with the republican movement during the past 20 years were favourably mention ed by several of the inter national speakers includ ing political scientist bill lafferty of oslo univer sity who congratulated those who were about to relaunch the proposals million pounds profit last year of which 300,000 pounds was contributed by the finglas plant it is clear that the dublin administration is supporting lyons and its british multinational parent allied lyons in trying to export irish jobs support must be given by all citizens workers and trade unions to the gateaux strikers — on the picket line on the streets and in the shops by refusing to handle lyons products and any attempts to substitute imports for gateaux produce boycott lyons !