Yesterday’s UN report [09/08/2021] on Climate Change has been labelled a ‘code red for humanity’. It has asserted “that human-induced climate change is the main driver of heatwaves and is likely the main driver for extreme rain. It said unless there were immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting global warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach”.
This is something we have all experienced locally in Ireland with recent heatwaves and flash floods in urban areas and villages.
Unsurprisingly the report lays the explanation for climate destruction at the feet of individuals – but it is clear that the climate catastrophe we are speeding towards is the symptom of a brutal system: CAPITALISM!
A system built upon profit, exploitation, and a fanaticism for ‘perpetual economic grow’ that transcends to imperialism has created the situation whereby a global ruling class is steering the masses of the world towards environmental destruction. Whilst the elites and their media finger-wag and preach about ‘green’ consumer choices: the richest 1% of the world’s population are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as 50% of the worlds poorest.
Just 100 companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988!
Recent floods and fires across Europe have proven the west can no longer ignore the encroaching destruction that climate change is bringing. No longer can western governments ignore the climate refugees they have created in the global south when climate refugees are being created in their own states. The coming climate catastrophe presents two options: socialism or barbarism.
A system that moves away from fossil fuels and reverses the rampant commodification of the planets resources for profit is what is desperately required – this is what socialism can deliver. We must organise to take back our planet and resources.
“Environmentalism without class struggle is just gardening” – Chico Mendes
Lasair Dhearg Derry are to gather this Sunday 15th of August at 12.30pm for a small wreath laying ceremony to mark the 50th Anniversary of IRA Volunteer Eamonn Lafferty.
Eamonn was the first Derry Brigade Volunteer to be killed by crown forces during that period of conflict. The day after, IRA Volunteer James O’Hagan, lost his life in a shooting in the Waterside.
Today is the 50th anniversary of the introduction of Internment to the occupied six-counties in 1971. Reflecting on that period, ex-political prisoner and Lasair Dhearg spokesperson Pádraic Mac Coitir stated:
“Although I was young I remember the morning of August the 9th 1971 when the British army raided many houses in Lenadoon and other parts of the 6 counties and a large number of men were lifted, beaten and taken to interrogation centres where some were tortured. The vast majority ended up in Crumlin Road gaol and later the Maidstone prison ship and Long Kesh.“
Pádraic Mac Coitir, Lasair Dhearg
“The British were one of the first governments to open internment camps, the most infamous being in South Africa when thousands of men, women and children were locked up in atrocious conditions during the Boer War which took place between 1899 and 1902. Thousands perished due to starvation and disease.
He continued: “The British empire was at its height during this period and as we have seen in Ireland thousands of Republicans took on that very empire in Dublin leading to the Easter Rising of 1916. After a week the Rebels surrendered and apart from the 16 executed most were imprisoned in gaols throughout Ireland, England and Wales. The prison camp in Frongoch in Wales gave many there the opportunity to meet men from other parts of the country and a lot of them got re-involved in the struggle upon their release.“
“Every decade since then the British -and indeed the Free Staters- interned men and women so Irish Republicans knew it was a weapon they could use at any time to imprison anyone they deemed a risk to their security. Prison ships, gaols and concentration camps were used and many of those behind the barbed wire and walls made countless attempts to escape with many succeeding. The enemies of Republicanism could never break those prepared to take them on.“
“In August 1971 the British army swamped the streets of Belfast and other towns and this led to resistance on those very streets. As I walked about Lenadoon people were standing in groups and there was an eerie silence because we were unsure of what to do. Within a number of hours the British army drove up from a unionist part of the estate and this led to rioting. As the day wore on more people came from surrounding estates and in the late afternoon the Brits fired live rounds shooting 14 year old Desy Healy. Although I saw him being shot and being dragged down the street over broken glass and bricks and stones by the Brits I didn’t know until a few hours after that he was killed.“
“Desy Healy wasn’t the only one killed that day. Frank McGuinness was shot dead by the same regiment -the Paras – just a short distance away in Andersonstown. Word then started to come of more being killed in Ballymurphy and we would see a lot of adults come out looking for their sons and daughters and warning us that things would get worse. Things did indeed get worse over the next few days with 11 civilians cut down in Ballymurphy in what later became known as The Ballymurphy Massacre.“
“Hundreds of men and women were interned form 1971 until it was phased out in 1975. Unknown to us the British had even more drastic plans devised in their fight against a popular resistance. Under the British Labour party they built the infamous H-Blocks at Long Kesh camp and in March 1976 they done away with political status as they enforced their policy of Normalisation. As more men and women ended up in prison on remand -many of them forced to make statements – there was a determination to fight the policy of criminalisation. Kieran Nugent was sentenced in September and immediately went on protest by refusing to wear a prison uniform or do prison work and this led to the start of the blanket protest. When I was sentenced in January 1977 I too went on the blanket protest. Hundreds of men were to join the protest in the H-Blocks whilst dozens of women embarked on a protest in Armagh gaol. The protest escalated with us refusing to slop out or wash and this led to the no-wash protest. Conditions got worse and with no sign of it ending 7 men went on hunger strike in October 1980. three women in Armagh gaol later joined it but it ended in December.“
“On March 1st 1981 Bobby Sands started another hunger strike and he died on the 5th May. Another nine of his comrades were die – Frank Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O’Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Tom McIlwee and Micky Devine. During the hunger strike I was remanded in Crumlin road gaol and I met other men who were there with no evidence against them and we knew this was another from of internment. After 16 months and a 3 day trial in a Diplock court I was back on the streets. In 1984 I was again remanded, this time for 8 months. The British government came under a lot of criticism for internment in the 1970’s and they knew that to take republican activists off the streets was either to kill them or imprison them on trumped up charges.“At the end of 1981 supergrasses were used when men and women were imprisoned on the word of former comrades who turned against them. It became such widely used it was a major concern for Republicans but after years of campaigning and trials which were overturned on appeal it ended. Although most of those imprisoned on the word of the supergrasses were released it had an effect on the republican movement when morale was low. Republican activists were always conscious that the British would come up with an alternative to the policy of internment introduced in 1971.”
“Today there are dozens of Republicans imprisoned in different gaols in Ireland and many are there on dubious ‘evidence’. The British judiciary may claim they are open and transparent and people get a fair trial. However, despite their claims a judge sits on his/her own without a jury which is the same as the infamous Diplock courts which were brought in in the early 1970’s. Law firms are constantly taking cases against the state in their pursuit for justice for their clients. Ex-prisoners are subjected to stringent measures such as travelling abroad and finding meaningful jobs. Just this month more draconian laws were introduced which are going to affect those who have to travel from the Occupied 6 counties to the Free State. They are required to notify the PSNI of their intentions to travel and failure to do so will mean immediate imprisonment. The constitutional nationalist parties are very silent on these human rights abuses but that is to be expected as they cosy up to the British establishment.”
“Today it is important for us to remember that when the British government introduces new draconian laws they aren’t just targeting republicans but anyone who is willing to stand up against injustice anywhere”
Hundreds gathered today [08/08/2021] to stand with the families of those slain by British armed forces in August of 1971, and to demand justice for those so brutally slaughtered during what is known as the ‘Ballymurphy Massacre’.
Speaking at the event, a Lasair Dhearg spokesperson said, “Lasair Dhearg activists are marching here today on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the introduction of Internment and the Ballymurphy Massacre, to remember the brutal injustice inflicted upon this area and its people by British imperialism, and to further highlight that such injustice has yet to be corrected.”
“Internment still exists today in altered forms, with Republican activists across The Six Counties still finding themselves subject to detention because of their beliefs and activism.”
“Total justice for the Ballymurphy Massacre has yet to be delivered. The families of the victims recently won the truth about what happened that day, and were vindicated in their demands that those killed that day were innocent and therefore murdered.”
“Yet despite this vindication we are yet to see one conviction for any British soldiers involved. The same regiment who massacred people in Ballymurphy, did it six months later in Derry on Bloody Sunday.”
“Those soldiers, members of the notorious British Parachute Regiment, their names protected by the British state, are free to walk because they did it in service of British colonialism.”
“And now the British government seek an amnesty for all those involved in state sponsored injustice, so they can protect their elites at the top, like Kitson and Jackson, who directed British terrorism in Ireland.”
“Justice, as paddy Hill said, is something the British government can’t even spell, never mind dispense.”
Lasair Dhearg announce campaign to declare West Belfast an ‘Israeli Goods Free Zone’. The Socialist Republican group have declared their intention to canvas all businesses across West Belfast to attain and survey each ones commitment to boycotting goods produced within the occupied territories of Palestine and profited from by apartheid Israel.
Aindriú Mac Ruaidhrí
Spokesperson for Lasair Dhearg Aindriú Mac Ruaidhrí, said:
“In recent months we have all witnessed via social media the destruction and death delivered upon the Palestinian people by Israeli Occupation Forces. Whilst the violence against Palestinians may have simmered, it has not stopped, and the occupation continues. The Israeli Apartheid system remains, and each day it contines to physically and psychologically brutalise millions of people – many of them children. These people, the Palestinians, are daily stopped by military checkpoints, caged away and made to walk separate roads to avoid israeli settlers, arrested arbitrarily, evicted from ancestral homes, businesses closed and neighbourhoods attacked. These are symptoms of a colonial system the people of West Belfast have experienced all too well.”
Aindriú continued: “It is in this spirit, the spirit of international solidarity, that we commence this campaign in response to long-held calls for support by the Paletinian people to ‘Boycott Israel’ as part of the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) campaign. Whilst awareness to their cause is important, what is even more important is taking steps locally that will make a direct material impact on the advancement of the Palestinian struggle – this means hitting Zionism where it hurts: its pockets.”
“Our solidarity and activism for Palestine must not be reserved to periods of heightened terror and media gaze. We must always keep the struggle of the Palestinians in our hearts and minds, because they are part of the same international struggle against imperialism that we are here at home. We cannot wait for the next wave of genocide: the time to end the occupation was yesterday, the time to start helping end it is now!”
News headlines in recent days have attempted to manipulate the minds of the masses into thinking that all is not well in Cuba.
Organised by the usual suspects, financially funded and supported by the US Imperialist regime, small numbers of counter-revolutionaries assembled in cities across Cuba, making spurious demands for ‘freedom’ and ‘vaccines’.
The foreign press and world media were notified in advance, in what was clearly another step in the continuing attempts to destabilise Cuba and the Revolution.
Lasair Dhearg’s Pádraic MacCoitir said, “The US regime hoped that, with small numbers of loyal subjects coming out onto the street, they would provoke thousands more to join them. Those thousands, carrying Cuban flags and red banners, instead mobilised and marched to face down the counter-revolutionaries in a true testament of support for the ongoing efforts of the revolution.”
Pádraic MacCoitir
“President Biden has continued with the efforts of previous US Presidents to embargo Cuba under an economic blockade which seeks to starve its people into capitulation. The Cuban people have instead organised under the might of Socialism and created a health system that is the envy of nations across the globe.”
“Since the establishment of a democratic revolution the people in Cuba have endured years of hostility from the US and their allies. Many times they’ve defended the country against counter revolutionary elements and have always prevailed.”
Pádraic said, “In recent days Biden and his cronies have once again tried to take on the Cubans using Covid as an excuse. None of us will be fooled as a small number take to the streets, despite what western media may report. Those of us who see what happens in Cuba will continue to support the revolution.”
“US attempts to destroy the Cuban revolution have failed time and time again. The resolve of the Cuban people has been tested, and they have won.”
“Derry economy plummeting since Good Friday Agreement” – Caolán Doherty
A recent report published by the ‘Derry University Group’ outlines just how bad the people have it in Derry, laying bare the economic schism across the Six Counties.
“Whilst Belfast’s economy has grown a significant 14% since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Derry’s economy has plummeted by 7%,” says Lasair Dhearg’s Caolán Doherty.
Caolán Doherty
“To state the issue in more blunt terms, since the restoration of Stormont in 2007, Derry’s economy has nosedived by a remarkable 21%. That’s one fifth of the economic output of the city gone in just a few short years, alongside the lack of investment to deal with the endemic poverty, housing and mental health crises.”
Caolán said that, “It is quite clear that Derry was doing much better economically during the most recent period of heightened conflict. So how can it be that the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, sold to our people as a new dispensation and a new beginning, would instead bring increased deprivation and a regional economic downturn? These are serious questions that Sinn Féin and the DUP have so far failed to answer.”
“They have wedded themselves to an economic system that favours profits over people. They believe that so long as the money comes rolling in, be it government grants or rent from housing, that with the creation of a perpetual crisis in government they can keep the votes rolling in too. But the people of Derry are slowly waking up to this.”
He continued, “This new research reveals a substantial regional imbalance in economic growth across the Six County State. The report says that to rectify this, additional educational investment is needed in Derry, and calls for the creation of a new body of higher education in the city. Lasair Dhearg supports the call, and we add to the demand, for a University to be situated in Derry. Such a move would no doubt bring about significant economic benefits for the city and the region as a whole, potentially slowing a continuing downward trend.”
“Such investment in education, however, will not fully resolve the issue at hand. This situation we find ourselves in is as a result of the political and economic system forced upon the people of Ireland. Constantly trying to rebalance a system designed to extract as much resources as possible from our country and our people will never fully resolve itself. The day has passed for patching up the capitalist system; it must go.”
Today marks the 251st anniversary of the birth of Belfast woman Mary Ann McCracken, a titan in Republican politics; a feminist, abolitionist and social reformer. Unable to gather at her grave to mark the 250th, a small number of Lasair Dhearg activists this year marked the occasion in a fitting manner.
Speaking from her graveside, Lasair Dhearg’s Nicola Nic Gabhann gave the following oration:
“Today, on the anniversary of her birth, we commemorate the life and legacy of Mary Ann McCracken.
What is commonly remembered about Mary Ann is how as a young woman, she walked with her brother, Henry Joy McCracken, to the gallows where he was executed for his part in the 1798 rebellion. After her brother’s death, Mary Ann adopted his illegitimate daughter Maria, raising the child as her own, in defiance of many family members and societal propriety.
For too long however, Mary Ann’s legacy has lay hidden in the shadow of her brother’s. Her grave remained unmarked until 1909, when Henry Joy McCracken’s remains were exhumed and placed by his sister’s. The inscription on her grave read, ‘she wept by her brother’s scaffold’.
But Mary Ann McCracken was so much more than the sister of her famous brother. Born in 1770 to the liberal Presbyterian McCracken family, Mary Ann was raised radically – her parents sent her to a school where physical punishment was forbidden, and boys and girls were educated the same way, in the same space.
With such an education and coming from a family of social reformers and humanitarians, Mary Ann McCracken became a radical of her time. There is an anecdote of Mary Ann standing at the Belfast docks, “the little frail, bent figure”, just days away from her 89th birthday, continuing to hand out anti-slavery leaflets to emigrants leaving for the United States. Mary Ann warned passengers at the docks, that America, “considered the land of the great, the brave may more properly be styled the land of the tyrant and the Slave”. This anecdote is a testament to the strength of Mary Ann’s radical compassion and politics, which she embodied throughout her life.
During her long life, Mary Ann McCracken lived through many major events in Irish history, including the 1798 rebellion, the Act of Union, Catholic Emancipation, and an Gorta Mór.
As a successful businesswoman in Belfast, running a muslin business with her sister Margaret, Mary Ann prioritised her workers over profit, as during times of financial hardship, she refused to sack anyone, stating she “could not think of dismissing our workers, because nobody would give them employment”.
Mary Ann McCracken dedicated her life to helping improve the lives of others, whether that was at home in Ireland, or further abroad. In Belfast, Mary Ann became a voice for the disenfranchised, fighting for the rights of poor women and children. Having been involved with the Belfast Charitable Society since her youth, Mary Ann later established the Ladies Committee, and acted as its secretary between 1832 and 1855. Through his work, Mary Ann fought to improve conditions within the Poor House in Belfast, as she demanded better diets and sanitation for those within its walls, and provided candles so that the children could read at night. Mary Ann stressed the importance of education, working as a teacher in non-denominational Sunday schools, and campaigned rigorously against the practice of using young working-class boys as chimney sweeps.
Mary Ann McCracken was also an ardent abolitionist, who fought throughout her life to keep the spirit of radicalism and abolitionism alive in Belfast. She was extremely active in anti-slavery groups and campaigns, creating and distributing anti-slavery literature, and even refusing to consume sugar, as it was a product of the slave trade, imported from the West Indies plantations.
Mary Ann McCracken has been described as having outlived her generation – after the failure of the 1798 uprising, radicalism and the ideals of the Enlightenment lost momentum in Belfast, and Ireland as a whole. But just one aspect of the importance of Mary Ann McCracken’s life is that she kept these ideals alive – through her work, her campaigning, and in her writing.
To remember and honour Mary Ann McCracken, we must remember and live by her words: ‘The world affords no enjoyment equal to that of promoting the happiness of others’.”
Mary Ann McCracken – feminist, abolitionist, social reformer.
“I hope the present era will produce some women of sufficient talent to inspire the rest with a genuine love of Liberty and a just sense of its value… for where it is understood it must be desired … I therefore hope it is reserved for the Irish nation to strike out something new and to show an example of candour, generosity and justice superior to any that have gone before”.
These are the words of Mary Ann McCracken, written in a letter to her brother, Henry Joy McCracken, before his execution. Mary Ann was an abolitionist, a feminist, a social reformer, and a champion for the rights of the poor and disenfranchised. Having dedicated her life to campaigning for the betterment of others, her legacy has been primarily confined to the legacy of her more famous brother, the United Irishman Henry Joy McCracken. The inscription upon Mary Ann McCracken’s grave reads, ‘she wept by her brother’s scaffold’, and ‘Díleas go h-éag’, which translates into English as ‘loyal unto death’. While Mary Ann’s proclaimed loyalty may be presumed to having been to her brother, it is true that she remained loyal to the principles of equality and justice which guided the beliefs of the United Irishmen, and which were embodied by Mary Ann McCracken throughout her long life.
Mary Ann McCracken
Born in 1770 to a middle-class, Presbyterian family, Mary Ann McCracken came from a long line of social reformers. Her maternal grandfather, Francis Joy, founded Belfast’s first newspaper, the Belfast News-Letter, in 1737, and the Joy family were amongst the earliest members of the Belfast Charitable Society, which was founded in 1752. The Society was responsible for the design and construction of Clifton House, Belfast’s first institution for the care of the destitute, which opened in 1774. As a child, Mary Ann was aware of her family’s involvement with Clifton House, and would later become a prominent member of the Belfast Charitable Society.
During the middle to late 18th century, Belfast was a hub of radical thinking in Ireland, with many mercantile families and entrepreneurs inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment and various international revolutions, including the French, American, and Haitian Revolutions.
The McCracken family were such a family and sought to raise their children radically. Under the instruction of David Manson, an innovative schoolmaster who disagreed with the practice of corporal punishment and believed in teaching both boys and girls, Mary Ann and her brother Henry were educated in a house in Donegall Street. This upbringing and early experience of equality instilled the importance of education within Mary Ann McCracken.
Clifton House, Belfast
Later in her life, Mary Ann, as a prominent member of the Belfast Charitable Society, formed the Ladies’ Committee and acted as its secretary between 1832 and 1855. Through her work, Mary Ann sought to not just make conditions bearable for poor women and children, but to improve them, and to provide vulnerable people with a good quality of life. With a school for girls already existing in Clifton House, Mary Ann and the Ladies’ Committee successfully campaigned for an Infant School, so that children aged two to seven could be provided with an education as early as possible. Mary Ann McCracken also fought to improve conditions within the Poor House, demanding better nutrition and sanitation for those living within its walls, and she provided candles for the children herself, so that they could continue to read and learn outside of school hours. Mary Ann also campaigned to end the practice of using young boys as chimney sweeps, arguing that it was a danger for the children and their health.
Through her work in the Society, Mary Ann McCracken was involved in providing famine relief during an Gorta Mór and helped to establish the Belfast Ladies Association for the Relief of Irish Destitution in 1847.
The McCracken family were pioneers of textile manufacturing, who laid the groundwork for Belfast’s industrial heritage, according to Mary McNeill. Mary Ann continued this practice, establishing a muslin business with her sister Margaret when she was just 22 years old. During times of financial hardship, the sisters refused to let go of any of their workers, as Mary Ann stated that she “could not think of dismissing our workers, because nobody would give them employment”.
United Irishmen – Roll of Honour
Mary Ann McCracken was an early feminist, greatly inspired by the work of Mary Wollstonecraft, especially A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and the work of prison reformer Elizabeth Fry. McCracken saw similarities between the struggle for abolition, and the struggle for the rights of women, writing that, “there can be no argument in favour of the slavery of women that has not been used in favour of general slavery and which have been successfully combatted by many able writers”.
As an ardent abolitionist, Mary Ann continued to keep the spirit of radicalism and abolitionism alive in Belfast through her anti-slavery work. The anecdote of Mary Ann standing at the Belfast docks, “the little frail, bent figure”, just days away from her 89th birthday, continuing to hand out anti-slavery leaflets to emigrants leaving for the United States, is a testament to the strength of Mary Ann’s radical compassion and politics. Mary Ann warned passengers at the docks, that America, “considered the land of the great, the brave may more properly be styled the land of the tyrant and the Slave”. Mary Ann created and distributed anti-slavery literature, refused to consume sugar, as it was a product of the slave trade, imported from the West Indies plantations, and wore one of the famous Wedgwood brooches, adorned with the image of a slave and the slogan, “Am I not a man and brother”.
Mary Ann McCracken also shared in her family’s interest in reviving the oral-music tradition of Ireland, a century before the beginning of the Gaelic Revival. Mary Ann was one of the founding members of the Belfast Harp Society, which was established in 1808, and showed great support for Edward Bunting, an Irish musician and folk music collector. Mary Ann acted as Bunting’s unofficial secretary and contributed anonymously to the second volume of his work, The Ancient Music of Ireland, in 1809.
A plaque to Mary Ann in Belfast
While often overshadowed by the legacy of her brother, Mary Ann was a dedicated supporter of the United Irishmen, and after the Battle of Antrim, Mary Ann and her sister-in-law Rose Ann, set out on foot to find her brothers William and Henry. After finding the hiding spot of her brothers, Mary Ann sent food, money and clothing via various messengers, and met with Henry twice, before his capture and arrest. When the McCracken family heard of Henry’s arrest, it was Mary Ann who accompanied her father to Carrickfergus Gaol, and it was Mary Ann to whom Henry entrusted to convey to fellow United Irishman Thomas Russell, that he had done his duty.
Writing an account of her brother’s execution forty years later, for Dr Madden, historian of the United Irishmen, Mary Ann wrote of how, “Notwithstanding the grief that overcame every feeling for a time, and still lingers in my breast … I never once wished that my beloved brother had taken any other part than that which he did take”.
Mary Ann’s own and sole biographer, Mary McNeil, wrote that “her ideals remained unshaken, and the rest of her life was dedicated to those same principles that had driven both Harry and Thomas to the scaffold”. The principles of equality, enlightenment and freedom were embodied and pursued by Mary Ann McCracken, until her death at the age of 96, on 26 July 1866.
“PIP applicants have been vindicated” – Pádraic MacCoitir
Since Personal Independence Payment (PIP) replaced Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in 2016 many people putting in for claims were rejected. This was devastatingly unfair to those who were disabled themselves or were carers for those on DLA.
Lasair Dhearg spokesperson Pádraic MacCoitir said, “The political elite in Stormont were aware of this but done nothing. Many people were already under massive stress and were reliant on benefits. This added to depression and anxiety levels in working class communities, as those seeking PIPs had to look elsewhere to feed, clothe, and pay their bills.”
“This should come as no surprise to community and political activists who have been campaigning for more equality and protections for the most disadvantaged in our society. Equality is a word that some political parties in Stormont shout out but rarely put into practice.”
“We in Lasair Dhearg have been contacted by many people seeking advice and the best we can do is refer them to community activists who do all they can.
Pádraic concluded, “Capitalist society will always throw up cases where the vulnerable will be thrown onto the scrapheap. It doesn’t have to be like that. If anyone is unsure of how to seek help with their benefits they should contact their local community centres and demand something be done.”
On Wednesday night, 23rd June, the TDs of Leinster House voted for the renewal of the Special Criminal Court. 86 voted in favour, 7 against, 5 abstained and Sinn Fein walked out, refusing to cast a vote on legislation that they have historically opposed.
The Special Criminal Court is a non-jury court established under the Offences Against the State Act, an Act created as a means to imprison republicans by the Free State. The Special Court in its current form was established in the early 1970s and was aimed as a way of attacking the IRA.
The legitimacy of the Special Court has been criticised by human rights observers, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Amnesty International and the United Nations Commission for Human Rights.
Dave Walsh of Lasair Dhearg Dublin said that “Wednesday night’s vote shows that Leinster House and the Free State is still determined in its age-old campaign against republicans, to deny Irish citizens the basic human right of a fair trial. What is even more insulting in this latest vote is the one time revolutionary party that refused to cast a vote despite being grounded in an organisation that this legislation sought to destroy, it is yet another example of a poacher turned gamekeeper and further demonstrates the inability to reform Leinster House from within.
Dave concluded by saying that “the only solution to injustice and the infringements of civil liberties in both failed states in Ireland is by the establishment of a 32 county socialist republic, it is that ideal that the Free State fear and seek to destroy. Leinster House will never deliver the liberation of the Irish working class, that objective only comes with the smashing of the gombeen state: smash Leinster House”.
Unblock Cuba! – Activists gather at US Consulate in Belfast
As the United Nations (UN) deliberates over the US imposed embargo on Cuba, political activists throughout the world protested outside US embassies 23/06/2021.
Members of Lasair Dhearg stood with others outside the US consulate in the leafy suburbs of Stranmillis and raised our voices against a country that continues to undermine a nation that is a shining example to Socialists and Communists worldwide.
This embargo takes place during a global pandemic, and the irony is lost on many when Cuban doctors, nurses and other medical staff are among the first to go to countries that are in dire need of medical aid. The Cuban people are ambassadors for humanity. Our message is to Unblock the embargo on Cuba!
“Up to this day, the economic, commercial and financial blockade is implemented all-out against the island, causing damages and scarcities that affect our people. It is the main obstacle to the development of our economy. It constitutes a violation of International Law, and its extraterritorial scope disrupts the interests of every State. It’s no coincidence that the [UN] vote [against sanctions] is practically unanimous, aside from Israel and the U.S.” – Raul Castro, In a speech at the Summit of the Americas, April 2015
100 Years of Partition – State opening of ‘Parliament’ marked in Belfast
Bus stops across Belfast City Centre yesterday [22nd June 2021] highlighted 100 Years of Partition alongside a banner drop at Belfast City Hall, as events marking the state opening of the ‘Northern Ireland Parliament’ by British King George 5th exactly 100 Years ago were taking place inside.
Pól Torbóid
Speaking outside Belfast City Hall, Lasair Dhearg spokesperson Pól Torbóid said, “Today, the 22nd of June 2021 is a significant date. In that it marks 100 years since the state opening of the ‘Northern Ireland Parliament’. English King George walked these very streets amid much pomp and ceremony, and announced a new assembly within his so-called ‘kingdom’.”
“As rebel forces fought for the freedom of All of Ireland, the British state, supported by a counter revolution, had formally secured its own interests.”
“The state propagandists will attempt to white-wash that history, and speak of partition as though it is something to celebrate. However, those familiar with the poverty, homelessness, bigotry and discrimination of the Six County state will tell you that supremacy is nothing to celebrate, neither is the denial of rights, nor injustice or inequality.”
“100 Years of Partition has meant 100 Years of state sponsored unionist death squads. It has meant innocent victims and thousands tortured in interrogation centres. It has meant 100 Years of internment, Inequality for women, the denial of healthcare rights, and the denial of language rights.”
“We cannot speak of Ireland as a post-colonial nation, because it is still very much under the thrall of British colonialism today. Britain still maintains a military occupation in six of Ireland’s thirty two counties, alongside a political administration subservient to its demands.”
“Our indigenous language remains second place to the colonisers, and the structures of Britain’s cruellest export to Ireland, capitalism, remain alive and very much intact.”
“The centenary of partition isn’t something to be remembered fondly, it marks 100 years of oppression. So today we mark it in a fitting manner, highlighting the inherent injustice at its foundation. An injustice that can only be fully resolved under a thirty-two County Socialist Republic.”
“Join us – Ar aghaidh linn le chéile – Bígí linn.”
Since the inception of the partition and the creation of ‘Northern Ireland’ – housing has been used as one of the foremost tools for the dominance and survival of Unionism and the British Occupation of the Six Counties. Even prior to partition, land was key to British colonial rule in Ireland as they lavished their settlers with the best land and homes available to buy their loyalty and service.
With the creation of the ‘Orange State’, housing resumed its importance in maintaining Unionist hegemony and the loyalty of many of the descendants of the original colonial settlers to the British Empire. Whilst the process of housing discrimination altered over time to ensure its survival, the practice of housing discrimination against Catholics remains as evident and indispensable to the northern state and its security.
“Jobs and houses for all” – Civil Rights march.
Those with even the most basic understanding of the history of the Civil Rights movement in the Six Counties will likely recall housing as one of the most pertinent demands of the protestors. Housing was an essential pillar to the maintenance of unionist political hegemony, as home ownership (or property relations and its accompanying social status) dictated people’s voting rights. The right to vote was a privilege confined to landlords and public housing tenants. Catholics were more likely to be unemployed due to job discrimination, which ultimately meant they were less likely to be home owners, and therefore relied on private landlords or the state for access to housing.
This created a system at a municipal level wherein landlords had multiple votes and their Catholic tenants had none. A Catholics best chance at winning a right to vote was therefore by being allocated a council house, however the allocation system was controlled by Unionists (via the district councils) who actively discriminated against Catholics in favour of protestants due to their perceived political allegiances. In the 1960s, Catholics comprised around 35% of the population but occupied just 6% of local council seats. In Derry, the 1968 municipal elections returned 12 Unionist, but only 8 Nationalist councillors – despite Catholics comprising 62% of the electorate.
“We want houses not platitudes!” – Civil Rights march.
The unfair allocation of housing was central to the process of gerrymandering by the Orange state to ensure unionist electoral dominance. Catholics could only be housed in areas wherein they wouldn’t upset the electoral balance, and if that threat arose they would be easily evicted – legally or illegally. Additionally, the housing system of the orange state was not only defined by anti-Catholic discrimination, but by a housing stock that was unfit for purpose, with severe overcrowding and damp conditions being common place within working class ghettos.
Such an apartheid system of repression would of course breed resistance, which came in the mass mobilisation of people under the banner of the Civil Rights Movement. A campaign of civil disobedience would win some significant reforms, one of which was the creation of a central housing authority (the Housing Executive) that was intended to be removed from the control of Unionism. The Housing executive would assume responsibility for all aspects of housing provision from the old authorities, most importantly: building and allocation. Throughout the 1970s, the Housing Executive undertook a large-scale programme of new social build. Between 1971 and 1979 a total of 57,223 homes were constructed (an average of 6,358 per year). A considerable achievement, particularly by today’s standards.
Yet despite mechanical changes throughout the following decades, a system of anti-Catholic discrimination persists that has created a housing crisis worse today than that which helped birth the civil rights movement. Homeless waiting lists are still overwhelmingly occupied by Catholic families, with severe housing shortages existing within traditionally catholic districts whilst many Unionist controlled areas enjoy a surplus of housing availability. Housing inequality in North Belfast for example has been subject to three United Nations investigations, each one further exposing the discrimination in housing allocation and new build planning which has created a homeless waiting list of which 80% of applicants are catholic.
A so-called ‘peace wall’ divides communities in Belfast, Ireland.
A system of segregation is enforced from the top-down via unionist politicians, the Housing Executive, and loyalist paramilitaries, mostly to the disadvantage of Catholics and immigrants. It is a segregation epitomised by ‘peace’ walls that dually serve as economic demarcations for rent levels. Excessive rents: a common struggle shared disproportionately again by Catholics due to the demand crisis in traditionally catholic neighbourhoods. Catholics brave enough to move into unionist controlled areas are commonly evicted by the governing loyalist paramilitary organization, such as in the shared-housing initiative in East Belfast in 2015 or as recently as April 2021 in Carrickfergus.
Such an immense disparity in the share of the housing crisis is a consequence of concerted efforts by unionist and loyalist forces to defend their dwindling electoral strongholds, and thus the security of their state (as they see it). Unionist government ministers’ decisions to remove policy prioritising new build housing in the areas of highest demand (catholic areas) and repeatedly interfering in Housing Executive business to block land being zoned for social housing has ensured homeless and poverty levels remain high within catholic areas. North Belfast again offers a wealth of evidence for this.
The Unionist majority in North Belfast has been dwindling for decades. From 1983-2001 the Unionist majority fell from 17,217 to 2,699 and feeling threatened from a rising Catholic population the DUP made a driven effort to ‘Keep North Belfast Unionist’. In 2009 the Housing Executive (citing ‘insufficient funding’) dropped its ring-fence policy for new build social housing to target disadvantaged groups. This was the year following the Department for Social Development projection that between 2008-2012 96% of the need for additional social housing units in North Belfast would be needed for Catholics. The change in policy now meant a 29% reduction on new build housing targets for the already deprived residents of North Belfast.
Nigel Dodds, DUP
Nigel Dodds whilst serving as the MP for North Belfast continually intervened within the Housing Executive throughout 2013-2014 to stop Hillview being earmarked for any social housing projects. Nelson McCausland, whilst serving as the Minister responsible for housing, continually denied that Catholics comprised a disproportionate amount of the homeless population. In 2013 he even intervened to successfully block another social housing project in North Belfast, instead favouring a multi storey car-park to be erected instead. Both men also intervened to limit the social housing unit proposal for the North Belfast housing project at the former Glengormley RUC barracks.
If the resulting misery wasn’t indication enough that elements of the old Orange state remain intact today, in 2015 housing and planning powers were handed back into the hands of councils after 40 years – the very bodies the Housing executive was established to relieve of housing duties because they could not be trusted. Even the Orange Order still demonstrably holds power in deciding the fate of homeless Catholics, when from 2014-2019 it blocked planning proposals to build social housing on a vacant piece of land in Belfast close to an Orange Hall, as they believed Catholics would be given the homes.
This is a strategy of gerrymandering by new means!
Whilst not only does discrimination in housing against Catholics still exist, rampant levels of housing injustice is evident for all sections of the Irish working class: Catholic, Protestant, Muslim and more. There are 20,592 people deemed homeless, a third of the population struggles with unaffordable rent/mortgage rates, and vast public land viable for social housing is being sold to developers to build shopping centres and hotels over homes.
When it comes to the housing crisis, 100 Years of Partition is rotten, capitalist, sectarian, and nothing to celebrate!
Donegal families affected by mica – 100% Redress! No Less!
Yesterday’s mass protests by the people of Donegal and Mayo only go to show the power of mass organisation.
People who’s lives are consumed on an hourly basis by the very imminent threat of their home collapsing as the crumbling defective blocks polluted with the degenerative compounds of mica or pyrite turn what was once solid walls to dust.
Every creak and groan, a reminder that the time to act is now, not after a working group is established to count the cost.
Where was the same diligence by Mícheál Martin and Fianna Fáil when it was crumbling banks that needed new foundations €60 billion was handed over in an evening?
€1 billion pales in comparison yet unlike Ulster Bank, Anglo and KBC the people of Donegal and Mayo will still be there in twenty years.
The time to act is now!
Or ten years ago when this problem was first identified, that would be if Fine Gael who have been in power since had not tried repeatedly to silence the issue, hypocritical speak from FG Mayo TD Michael Ring calling for 100% redress this late in the game.
The people of Donegal know all too well the empty promises of the government parties, they know all too well that they are a long way away from Dublin and can be disregarded and forgotten, they also know they have nothing left to lose.
Whether it is suppliers cutting corners or ignoring legislation, controls not implemented or insurance companies washing their hands of their obligations it is clear that a capitalistic system of home production is rife with exploitation; that one of the basic necessities of existence when controlled by a self regulated industry bent on profits insured by an industry bent on profits these issues will arise again and again.
Stricter controls in what materials and methods are used from homes, schools and hospitals need to be implemented, every few years there is another scandal with buildings over running in costs or being made of substandard materials.
We need to invest in technical schools to provide the training for people entering the construction trade, schools and systems that are in place in every other European country, there to train the next generation of tradespeople.
Considering the amount of work needed to be done or the next few years, Donegal peoples long tradition of construction workers, the high youth unemployment, the historical emigration which looks set to return in earnest, Donegal is the ideal place for a technical school.
It would provide education, employment and development, it could pave the way forward for a safer more substantial way of construction.
The people of Donegal need help now to provide a safe home for their families, yet the same people do not want to see this happen again and again.
Standards in Ireland need to improve, there can not be in ten years more families going to bed at night wondering if their house will collapse as they sleep.
As long as our homes are seen first as a source of gain by the few and not as a place to live by the many we will keep encountering cases of cut corners and ignored legislation.
