Issue 169, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (May, 2001)

              uimh 169 bealtaine — may 2001 http://saoirse.rr.nu 60p usa 1 at an election convention held in the falls road office of republican sinn fein on may 2 it was decided to contest the forthcoming westminster election in the west belfast constituency with maghaberry prisoner tommy crossan as candidate from rodney parade in west belfast tommy crossan 30 has been in jail since january 1999 on firearms charges in connection with a gun attack on a british crown forces base at woodbourne in west belfast he was later sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the non jury diplock court in view of the deteriorating prison situation republican sinn fein's strategy has been to intensify the struggle for political status one of the ways decided on was to put forward a republican prisoner who is being denied political status in maghaberry jail support for this strategy has been forthcoming from the for this strategy has been forthcoming from the prisoners themselves particularly from tommy crossan and from a wide spectrum of supporters in belfast across ireland and abroad the convention appointed joe o'neill overall director of elections and geraldine taylor election agent and director of elections in belfast in wolfe tone commemoration sunday june 10 bodenstown co kildare assemble sallins 2.30pm speaker joe o'neill buses virgin records o'connell bridge dublin 1pm addition directors of canvassing publicity finance and transport were appointed speaking at the convention joe o'neill said that as part of the campaign republican sinn fein and tommy crossan supporters would be challenging the bar on prisoners names going forward on the ballot paper this totally unjust regulation was introduced by the notorious british prime minister margaret thatcher in 1 98 1 to block any repeat of the election of bobby sands as the people's elected represent ative for fermanagh/south tyrone during the historic hunger strikes for political treatment joe o'neill said we will not allow this to prevent tommy crossan s name to go on the ballot paper we intend to approach human rights organisations in ireland and internationally to look for support for out stand that prisoners have restored to support for out stand that prisoners have restored to them the right to go forward as candidates those who propose and sign the nomination papers and the people who support him are equally being deprived of heir rights focus the primary focus of this electoral intervention is to highlight the campaign for the restoration of political status for republican prisoners who have been deprived of this treatment since the stormont agreement was signed this british policy to abolish cabhair irish republican prisoners dependants fund annual testimonial & republican reunion west gouty hotel chapelizod dublin 2000 honotces tom malone leinstei eileen mcdonnell ulster tommy campbell connacht gearoid 6 broin monster friday may 18 2001 bnffet supper & music by patsy farrell & the connolly folk group tickets 11 political status was not part of the text of the stormont agreement however this policy has been supported by the sdlp the provisionals and the dublin administration most blatantly by the provisionals martin ferris who told a member of the public in co kerry four times that there were no political prisoners in ireland this election occurs on the 20th anniversary of the h-block hunger strikes when bobby sands and nine of his comrades laid down their lives in the struggle for recognition as political prisoners is their sacrifice and the sacrifice of many others down the years to be discarded now in exchange for seats in stormont and british pay-cheques vote tommy crossan and send a message to the british government that they cannot criminalise the irish struggle for national self-determi nation vote tommy crossan and make the british government learn from history so that they do not repeat the mistakes of the thatcher administration in 1 98 1 which led to so much trauma suffering and tragedy vote no to nice treaty june 7 the date for the referendum on the nice treaty has been set for june 7 the campaign for a no vote has been energised by the visit of the german foreign minister joschka fischer to dublin on april 30 and by the publication of the german social democrats9 4 schroder plan9 which calls for the creation of a european superstate it outlines plans for the european commission to be transformed into a strong european executive or eu government the nice treaty as it stands allows for an all powerful eu president who would pick his cabinet of ministers from among the other commissioners the national veto is therefore abolished for appointing commissioners the germans also want to make the present council of ministers into an el senate but unlike in the us all senators would not have the same vote those senators from the big states would have the extra voting weight given them by the nice treaty joschka fischer said when asked about neutrality that he was not afraid of militarisation and the eu had to play a stronger role in ensuring peace and stability what is meant by that can be illustrated by the fact that he supported the nato bombing of yugoslavia his frankness is in contrast to the fianna fail spin-doctoring drive which has seen a summary of the nice treaty delivered to households throughout the 26 counties it is reminiscent of fianna fail's 1997 election manifesto which stated we oppose irish participation in nato itself in nato-led organisations such as the partnership for peace or in the western european union beyond observer status eighteen months later in government fianna fail joined the pfp without a referendum their promise to hold a referendum on dropping • joschka fischer neutrality completely on joining nato proper can therefore be seen as worthless the only way to call a halt to this dishonesty and elimination of the rights of european nations is to vote against signing up to the nice treaty and to campaign for a free federation of free european peoples