Issue 175, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (November, 2001)

              http://saoirse.rr.nu 60p usa 1 uimh 175 samhain — november 2001 kevin barry & comrades commemoration sunday november 25 assemble mountjoy jail 1pm and march to the republican plot glasnevin cemetery oration ruairi 0 bradaigh president republican sinn fein 3 si 8 • the provisionals destroyed arms to save their jobs in the british assembly at stormont the stormont assembly and the stormont agreement have been saved for the moment by the actions of the provisionals during october destroying the arms that were given to them for the freedom of ireland they used these arms as a bargaining chip to secure positions of power within a restructured british rule in the six counties the provisionals said they destroyed arms to save the peace process yet only a week earlier they were saying stormont might fall but the peace process goes on the reality is that it was done to save stormont and with it their jobs and careers in which they now have a vested interest the provisionals and general de chastelain both confirmed on october 23 that the destruction of arms had taken place republican sinn fein president ruairi 6 bradaigh said on the same date that it was the worst yet unsurpassed in irish history others down the decades eg cumann na ngaedheal/fine gael fianna fail and the workers party did certainly betray republican principles and accept british rule in ireland but none of them ever stooped to destroying weapons given to them to achieve irish national independence further details emerged in the anglo-cell newspaper at the beginning of november the newspaper's sean mcmahon told rte radio on november 8 that a team from the provisionals with martin mcguinness at its head was allegedly in the townland of muidebawn between cootehill and shercock co cavan on wednesday october 17 the provisionals escorted general dc chastelain and his team to a huge bunker some 30 feet under the ground which contained a large amount of arms and explosives then a lorry poured quick-setting concrete into the bunker which contained most of the provisionals stock of semtex as well as weapons and ammunition on october 23 martin mcguinness was in washington dc having presided over this development the subsequent farcical happenings at stormont between november 2 and november 6 revealed that the pro-agreement parties arc building on sand the stormont agreement was an updated structure of british rule based on parallel consent ie a majority of unionists and a majority of nationalists this is embodied in article 15 of the agreement the plain fact of the matter is that stormont saved arms destroyed the majority of those elected as unionists to stormont do not wish to work the agreement the british government proceeded to drive a coach and four through the:r own agreement to allow first the women's coalition and then the alliance party members at stormont to immediately redesignate themselves as unionists to save david trimble suddenly the british and their compliant media were talking about 70 majorities and parallel consent was dispensed with crucially the british do not want an election because they will not get the right result ie it would be shown to the world that a majority of unionists do not support the stormont agreement they are now hoping against hope that this piling of artificiality on top of artificiality will sustain the governing of an artificial statelet in a part of ireland under english rule at least until the elections in approximately 18 months time the sunday business post reported on november 4 that even pro-stormont parties hold the view that these shenanagans have completely undermined the stormont agreement the crisis in stormont underlines yet again the fact that the agreement of three-and-a half years ago is unworkable because it promised totally contradictory ultimate objectives to unionists on one hand and to nationalists on the other british rule and irish national independence cannot be reconciled and one or other must yield in the long term natural power-sharing according to local majority in a nine-county ulster within a four province federation in ireland is the way forward rather than enforced and unnatural sharing of power under the constantly shifting terms of an unworkable agreement how many more recurring crises do we have to endure to learn the simple lesson that artificiality and british rule do not work in ireland meanwhile the gaa is being cira pledges continued resistance the continuity irish republican army has pledged it will continue to resist british colonial rule in ireland following the recent act of treason by the provo party militia in destroying arms in a statement issued through the media on october 27 the cira leadership said the actions of the provisionals in completing the surrender of irish republican arms is an act of treachery unparalleled in the history of republican resistance to british imperial rule it has further outraged all those who have struggled for and remain committed to the all-ireland republic the statement said the provisionals had surrendered irish republican arms which they have stolen from those to whom they were entrusted . the provisionals have now committed the ultimate treachery and must be viewed as absolutely no different from the quislings who have come before them and who also bought into british colonial rule in ireland we take this opportunity to reassert the right of irish men and women to continue resistance to british colonial rule in ireland and we call on all irish republicans opposed to this act of treason to rally to the cause and support the irish republican movement in the honourable task that lies before us required by the london and dublin administrations to admit british crown forces members to membership and is meeting on november 17 to try to get its members to drop rule 21 but the nationalist nightmare continues and nowhere more starkly than in the ardoyne area of belfast where a parent of a seven-year old pupil at holy cross school in ardoyne belfast has taken an action in belfast high court on her behalf against the ruc/psni and the british secretary of state re their failure to protect children from attack by loyalist mobs going to and from school