2001/12, The Sovereign Nation (December, 2001)

              the final betrayal by tom o'hanlon on tuesday october 23 the provisional ira became the first republican organisa tion in irish history to decommission its weapons at the behest of the unionist and british establishments gerry adams has described this act as ground breaking1 but for many irish republicans the pira's decision to decommission represents the final betrayal republicans across ireland should never forget that it was the british govern ment who originally initiated the demand for pira decommissioning in march 1995 during a diplomatic visit to washington patrick mayhew insisted that the pira must decommission as a pre requisite to sf's entry into all-party talks although the context has changed and the provisional movement have now met these demands in order to maintain their british ministerial portfolios who in 1995 would have forecast that within six years the pira would have capitulated and complied with these british terms of sur render following mayhew's introduction of the decommissioning precondition the provisional leadership's consistent public response was one of absolute rejection they labelled the demand as unrealisable and unattainable but behind closed doors moves were afoot to insure that decom missioning would become a political inevitability to examine the sequence of events that led to pira decommissioning we must first look back to the 1996 ira army convention that convention saw a clause inserted into the ira constitution which stated that the ira would not decommission any of its weapons until the aims and objectives of the ira had been achieved this insertion into the ira con stitution was designed to constrain and impede the political and military compro mises that were clearly on the agenda of a large section of the provisional leader ship in september 1997 the sinn fein leadership controversially signed up to the mitchell principles an extraordinary general ira convention took place one month later the 1997 convention saw a narrow majority grant a special dispensa tion to the provisional leadership to deal with the issue of ira arms this special dispensation clearly violated the spirit and integrity of the ira constitution thus clear ing the way for the political compromises that followed as a result a split took place within the ranks of the ira on october 23 1997 oglaigh na heireann was reconsti tuted and the integrity of the ira constitu tion was upheld secure in the knowledge that oppo nents of their strategy had departed from their ranks the provisional leadership pro ceeded apace in december 1999 the pira announced that it had nominated a representative to liase with the independent international commission for decommissioning iicd throughout this period the gable end walls in provo heartlands were adorned with the slogan not a bullet not an ounce on may 5 the deceit and political dis honesty of the provisional leadership was for the first time exposed when in a state ment the pira announced that they were prepared to initiate a process that would put their arms beyond use between may 2000 and july 2001 there were several inspections of pira dumps by members of the iicd these arms dumps were total ly compromised by these iicd inspec tions by themselves they represented a form of decommissioning as no volunteer in his or her right mind would ever approach these dumps again on august 8 2001 the pira revealed that they had agreed a scheme with the iicd that would put all ira weapons com pletely and verifiably beyond use this offer was later withdrawn in response to the suspension of the stormont institu tions by john reid it would only be a mat ter of time before the offer made its way back on to the negotiating table since the signing of the belfast agreement the uup has enjoyed the wholehearted support of the british state in pursuing their demand for pira decom missioning whereas the british state initi ated the demand they were quite pre pared to sit back and allow the uup to adopt the issue and run with it as their own matters came to ahead on october 8 after a uup motion to hai i excluded from the stormont executive failed believing themselves left with no option the uup increased the pressure on the provisional leadership by announcing the resignation of their three ministers from the executive this was followed by the resignation of the two dup ministers john reid faced a deadline of thursday 25th by which he would be forced once again to suspend the stormont institutions in the absence of pira decommissioning however this political gambit by the uup yielded considerable benefits for both the ulster unionism and the british state on monday october 22nd gerry adams told the assembled press in conway's mill that martin mcguinness and i have also held discussions with the ira and we have put to the ira the view that if it could make a ground breaking move on the arms issue that this could save the peace process from collapse and transform the situation within 24 hours the pira confirmed that they had actually decommissioned some of their weapons the meekly worded passage confirming the decommissioning of their weapons stated we have implemented the scheme agreed with the iicd in august three hours later the iicd in a press release confirmed that pira decommis sioning had actually taken place we have now witnessed an event - which we regard as significant - in which the ira has put a quantity of arms completely beyond use the material in question involves arms ammunition and explo sives the route the provisional leadership has travelled over the past six years has been carefully surveyed in advance ever mindful of republican hostility to decom missioning they engineered a situation whereby an acceptance of their decision to decommission would evolve over a period of time the militancy of the provisional's support base was decom the architect of the provisional's surrender missioned in advance of their military arsenal however let us be clear with respect to one salient point the act of decommis sioning is not the first or indeed the most serious betrayal carried out by the provisional leadership it can only be characterised as the final betrayal it is important that republicans throughout ireland remain focused on the fundamental political principles that lie at the heart of this demoral-ising process the provisional's willingness to decom mission is indicative of the political cancer that has infested that movement in recent years it is true to state as some provisional apologists have that any republican organisation can destroy arms urchast more at a latter i : iqi ill trui to that no irish republican organisation can ever reclaim a principle once it has been abandoned by administering british rule in ireland the provisionals have accepted its legitimacy in perpetuity never again can they with any shred of political integri ty denounce the illegitimacy of the british presence by endorsing british rule and by implementing the belfast agreement they have permanently removed themselves from the republican family but what are the broad political impli cations of the provisional's decision to decommission in the recent past the pira have gone on record as stating that they regard themselves as an undefeated army and therefore any act of decommis sioning on their part is unwarranted they have also stated that an act of decommis sioning by the pira would be tantamount to criminalizing the entire irish republican struggle implicit in the pira's recent decision to decommission is the acknowledgement that they have lost the long war and are a defeated organisation furthermore by engaging in this uni lateral act of decommissioning without any corresponding gesture of the same magnitude from the british state they have cast a moral cloud over the entire republican struggle by ui decommissioning they havi h itimi itei i thai iih k il ti.;:;|.)on il il h toi the i mtin ¦ coi iflicl i witl i irish repi il ilii ins many re ii il ili cans throughout ireland solemnly believe that irish republican arms should never ever be decommissioned under any cir cumstances as the british state is the occupying force whose continuing pres ence is illegitimate and lacks any moral authority thus if any arms are to be decommission-ed in an act of public atonement - they should be british arms through their grotesque incompetence the provisional leadership has in effect criminalized the irish republican struggle not even margaret thatcher could achieve this feat in 1981 ten young men left the h-blocks in coffins during the struggle for political status they refused to be labelled as criminals they died as freedom fighters and will always be remembered as such the graveyards of ireland also provide sad testimony to the sacrifice paid by generations of irish republicans despite the actions of the provisional leadership the irish freedom struggle is and always will be a just and worthy cause in time our patriot dead will be remembered with respect and warmth they will never be forgotten by those who cherish freedom and have a vision of what a future ireland might be in contrast this provisional le;uit;ishi u ili < l . j ,', , ¦ it ii ! mil . il iii bai ili h hisl i '•¦¦ and will be i membei - 1 with infamy for theii re enl ignon linious ii tit ii is republican pow dies from prison neglect as we go to print it is with deep sadness that we report the death of kevin kiddo murray rip kevin who had been diagnosed belatedly with a brain tumour had been released from portlaoise gaol eight weeks ago the prison authorities who had neglected kevin for over a year were keen to release him in order to cover-up their neglect kevin who had been complaining of severe headaches throughout that time was offered only basic treatment including the issue of glasses for eye strain despite pleas from his family and comrades for outside medical treatment he was left to languish in a prison cell portlaoise gaol has no medical wing nor at times a doctor available incredibly the general hospital is situated across the road from the gaol yet due to manpower costs the prison authorities resist sending prisoners to the hospital until as in kevin's case it is too late after the initial diagnosis was made kevin was transferred to the beaumont hospital in dublin were doctors revealed that had he been diagnosed in time his condition may have been treatable if not cureable kevin - better known to his friends as kiddo joined the republican movement at the age of sixteen for 32 years he had been at the coal-face of the struggle dedicated to ending british rule in our country a huge crowd gathered to pay their final respects to this quiet unassuming man who had give his life for the cause of irish freeom and who had died an unsung hero led by a lone piper the cortege made its way to the graveyard at dowdals hill dundalk were family and friends watched on as kevin was finally laid to rest veteran republican val lynch who chaired the proceedings called for a minutes silence followed by the last post marian price gave the following oration we are gathered here today to lay to rest a brave and uncompromising irish republican volunteer kevin murray to his wife phyllis daughters rose and paula and grandchildren shannon and saoirse we extend our deepest sympathy and condolences on your sad loss you have lost a loving husband father and grandfather we have lost a committed and principled comrade continued on page 7 inside news new page 2 pages 3&4 analysis page 5 editorial international prisoners page 6 page 7 page 8