In the Name of the Father Release Martin Corey

by Ciaran Goggins Wed Jun 26, 2013 10:37

Can one expect justice from a de facto police state? Framing (or fitting up) are hallmarks of what Britain has become. Do not conflate justice with fear born of vindictiveness!

by Brian Clarke - AllVoices Wed Jun 26, 2013 14:59

Martin Corey is not guilty of any crime. He simply believes in the re-unification of his country and has not been involved in any militant activity,since his release in 1992. It is not a crime to be Irish or peacefully demonstrate support for Eire Nua, unless you live in the scum state of British Occupied Ireland. The British are simply making an example of Martin, to strike fear in all those who would dare stand up for their human rights, particularly the thousands of ex-Political Prisoners after the peace process in Ireland who would support peaceful alternatives to provisional Sinn Fein. The British and their agents in the supposed free state are censoring peaceful working class alternatives to a united island of Ireland.

Retweet to Release Martin Corey Political Prisoner of Conscience British Occupied Ireland.

Peace Process Without Due Process

Caption: Video Id: 17xwitIAB98 Type: Youtube Video
You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart (Sinead O' Connor)

by Ciaran Goggins Wed Jun 26, 2013 16:53

Might I add a suggestion? Hunger strikes to the death focus the mind of occupying states wonderfully. Or does Britain wish to be perceived as an EU equivalent of Zimbabwe, North Korea or Haiti?

by Brian Clarke - AllVoices Wed Jun 26, 2013 17:50

Ciaran a chara,

In the previous article this was mentioned in the following: Last time 10 died and I really don't want to go through that again!

Gerry Adams, A Question of Honour, Martin Corey?

Sun Jun 23, 2013 08:46

Gerry Adams was interned in March 1972 and released in June to take part in secret talks in London. An IRA delegation met with British Home Secretary, William Whitelaw in Chelsea. The delegation included Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Sean Mac Stiofain, Daithi O'Conaill, Seamus Twomey, Ivor Bell and Dublin lawyer Myles Shevlin. The IRA insisted Gerry Adams be included and he was released from internment to participate.

He was re-arrested in July 1973 and interned at Long Kesh internment camp along with Martin Corey who served almost 20 years at that time. Martin Corey has, after serving almost 20 years as a political prisoner, since his unconditional release in 1992, been interned again over three years ago without any reason, charge or sentence given to him.

Gerry Adams after taking part in an IRA organised escape attempt, was sentenced to a period of further imprisonment. During this time, he wrote articles in the paper An Phoblacht under the pseudoynm "Brownie", where he often criticized strategy and policies of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Billy McKee. He was extremely critical of McKee who decided to assassinate members of the Official IRA from whom they split and were on ceasefire since 1972.

Many still believe that Gerry Adams denials of membership of the provisional IRA, are based on the fact that he was in fact always a member of the Official IRA only, never formally joining the Provisionals. After his release in 1976, he was again arrested in 1978 for alleged IRA membership, the charges were subsequently dismissed.

A long standing Irish Republican principle claims that the only legitimate Irish state, is the Irish Republic, declared in the Proclamation of the Republic of 1916, which they consider to be still in existence The legitimate government of Ireland was vested in the IRA Army Council, with the authority of that Republic in 1938 by the last remaining anti-Treaty deputies of the Second Dáil, while others see the death of O'Bradaigh as the last in that link.

Gerry Adams continued with this claim of republican political legitimacy, until his 2005 speech to the Ard Fheis, when he rejected it in his typical duplicitous manner, by saying : "But we refuse to criminalise those who break the law in pursuit of legitimate political objectives. .. Sinn Féin is accused of recognising the Army Council of the IRA as the legitimate government of this island. That is not the case. .... we do not believe that the Army Council is the government of Ireland. Such a government will only exist when all the people of this island elect it. Does Sinn Féin accept the institutions of this state as the legitimate institutions of this state? Of course we do."

Bearing all of this in mind and the politically sensitive issue of policing and justice in British Occupied Ireland, where the Provos surrendered their arms without, any supposed promised real power sharing in the devolved Assembly, makes their participation look hollow indeed, bearing in mind Mr Adams promises of power sharing to IRA members, as the basis for the Peace Process.

During the internment of Marian Price the nominal bi-party agreed, Justice Minister lied to an Assembly debate about her internment. All the powers of policing, internment without trial, MI5, lie with the English Viceroyal who is heavily compromised to the Secret Services or the Hidden British State. Indeed many believe, that almost all of the elected politicians in British Occupied Ireland have over time, been compromised to creepy Secret Service blackmail.(See; Britain's Spy Agency Taps Fibre-optic Cables for Secret Access to World's Communications)

Meanwhile interned traditional Irish Republican Martin Corey still maintains he still has absolutely “no idea,” why he is being interned without trial more than three years.Speaking from a hellhole in Maghaberry gaol, the Lurgan man says he believes he has been interned strictly because of his political belief in a United Ireland. In other words 'an Irish prisoner of political conscience' in Gerry Adam's negotiated British Occupied Ireland????

Martin says “I have been interned for three years now and I still haven’t been given a reason. They have put forward a number of allegations against me, and for three years, I’m not able to defend myself against any of them.They say I have been seen speaking to known republicans, and that I visited a number of houses in Lurgan Tarry but almost every house in my Town is Irish republican. What does that matter? It doesn’t mean I’ve done anything wrong. They have absolutely nothing on me, and that’s why they haven’t charged me. When I went to court, I end up being ordered to be released by the Judge, but without a a shred of evidence against me the English Viceroyal again overruled the judge and interned me again.”

Martin Corey continued: “When I was arrested, I was taken to Lurgan police station. None of the police officers in the station knew why I had been arrested. I was then taken to Maghaberry. When I got here, even the prison officers were surprised to see me. One of them asked me, what I was doing here, and I replied, ‘You know as much as I do’. I was thrown into a cell and I have been here ever since.The fact that I’m in here and haven’t been given a reason, makes the whole thing even worse. If they have anything on me, they should charge me and send me to a proper trial. If not, I should be released.”

Martin a 63-year-old man, losing his power with age and the mental torture of indefinite internment, worked as a grave digger in the town for twelve years before he was interned, further stated: “When I was released from Long Kesh internment camp originally, after serving almost 20 years, I did not get involved in anything. I would have attended the odd white-line protest picket, things like that. But that is definitely the most I would have been involved with. I have held down a steady job for more than a decade, and even got a character reference from Monsignor Hamill. To accuse me of posing a threat is just ridiculous.”

Mr Corey has previously said: “A hunger strike is looking like a very real possibility. The agreement is not being implemented. Omniously he added: “There are plenty of volunteers for a hunger strike. That’s one thing there’s no shortage of.” The unelected English Viceroyal was
un-available for comment, a spot of fox hunting like her previous ancestral Viceroyal, perhaps?

Neither was Gerry Adams available, who has done nothing of substance, other than stating publicly, after the recent release of the interned Marian Price: “The logic of today’s release is that Martin Corey should also be freed.” However many Irish Republicans including his own supporters believe this is no longer good enough or acceptable, bearing in mind his position as President of his party, his undertakings of power sharing, when selling the Peace Process to IRA volunteers, the surrender of arms without direct input in matters like core policing, internment without trial, the reluctance to hold the 'Justice' ministry at the Assembly to account and his own history of non-accountability, on critical issues of public importance.

What is causing further scrutiny of Gerry Adams, in the instance of Martin Corey, is that not alone were they both comrades in defending their own community from ethnic cleansing and from the collusion of the British State, with sponsored British sectarian death squads, which included up to a hundred British soldiers and their own British paramilitary police. They were also comrades, when both were interned without trial, in what became known as Long Kesh Concentration Camp. They were tortured together in the British invented Concentration Camps which Hitler used with such infamy. Will the British succeed in dividing them, as they did previously with De Valera and Irish republicans?

Of course "intelligent Irish republicans" as Gerry's colleague Martin McGuinness often says, know that Gerry Adams has not put all his political cards on the table, with regard to this issue or indeed any of the issues mentioned above. However bearing in mind Martin Corey's 63 years and the current fragile state of the 'peace process' the last thing people need or want is another Hunger Strike by a Long Kesh, H-Block internee, bearing in mind the history of Bobby Sands and the total of the 10 hunger strikers, who already died by this last resort of non-violent protest.

Irish republican loyalty in the interest of unity, which has extended over so many years of giving Gerry Adams the benefit over considerable doubt, will hardly extend to letting a fellow volunteer and elderly internee die interned in a British hellhole. Statements as Gerry the pragmatist would himself know, at this stage are hardly enough. .As President of Ireland's largest political party and partner in a negotiated peace agreement and recent event around taking responsibility, he would now know that both his political and moral responsibility are to cease with the use of an elderly Irish internee being used as stick, to wave at the many Spartans, who survived Martins current ordeal, who have serious misgivings about the implementation of promises made. Martin has considerable support in his native Lurgan and indeed most of the British created, sectarian 'murder triangle.'

One of the last recording, made of the previous late President of 'Sinn Fein', who was criticized so much By Mr Adams, Ruairi O Bradaigh quoted, "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." Ruairi kept his promises, Will Gerry Adams keep his prosmises to the people who have learned from bitter experience, is that they rely on people like Martin Corey to defend them and simply cannot trust British Paramilitary police or a disarmed IRA that let them down so badly last time. This is the harsh reality that many new political careerists ignore but which Gerry Adams dare not forget..

Sparta

by Ciaran Goggins Wed Jun 26, 2013 19:18

A Chara Bhriain, I read your tweets and see you are here dealing with Mr Corey's unjust jailing. Adams is now reaping what he sowed with the so called "policing agreement". I spoke with Gerry Kelly about this last year and he was unable to tell me what we (nationalists) had gained from it. Perhaps his recent clutching of a PSNI/RUC/B Specials landrover will have aided his perception?

by Baggie Thu Jun 27, 2013 12:19

Well done Brian Clarke. Attack Adams - that will certainly move forward the campaign to free the unjustly imprisoned Martin Corry. Your infantile posturing does you no credit.

by Brian Clarke - AllVoices Thu Jun 27, 2013 14:04

No there is nothing personal about Gerry Adams in the valid questions, regarding accountability, responsibility and actual non-activity by Mr Adams and his party with regard to Martin Corey. If middle class non-republicans such as the SDLP walked out of Stormont on the issue of internment 40 years ago, it is more than strange that Adams' party by their presence collude with the British interning an innocent former interned comrade of Mr Adams. The central question on core policing and waht would normally interior ministry responsibilities in transparent no scum state are secret.

It is infantile to regard questions such as these as personal or undermining Irish Republican Unity which is impoertant. The fact is that an innocent 63 year old man who has now served 22 years in a sectarian state is currently a political prisoner of conscience in peace process negotiated by Mr Adams. It is inexcusable in any civilized state and unacceptable. It is time for Mr Adams to exercise the power entrusted to him originally, by the blood, years of internment, gaol, hard work of genuine Irish republicans and take the necessary ACTIONS, to effect the release of Martin Corey immediately.

Someone Remind Gerry Adams of this Song !

There's[G] a place just[C] outside[G] Lisburn
It's a place that's[D] known to[G] few
Where a[C] group of[D] Irish re[G]bels
Are[C] held by[D] Faulkner's[G] crew
They are forced to[D] live in[G] cages
Like the inmates[D] of Belle[G]vue
But the sperit of[D] 19[G]16
Will always[D] see them[G] through

The men in this vile place
They come from far and near
Some from the Derry Bogside
And Omagh town so near
And some of them from Belfast
From the markets and the Falls
From the narrow streets of Ardoyne
And all around Tyrone

On that black day in August
When Faulkner showed his hand
He thought that by internment
He could break our gallant band
But the boys from Ballymurphy
How they showed the way that night
How they thaught those English soldiers
How Irish men could fight

Long Kesh it's known to everyone
The system must be broke
Ardoyne the New Lodge and the Falls
Will see the system choke
No more the special powers act
The means will envoke
And Long Kesh will be the U stone
Of which the system's broke

A word now Irish people
No matter where you are
Remember our brave rebels
In Long Kesh this year
And by civil disobeience
Or any other way
We'll make a stand until the day
Each one of them are free

ni neart go cur le cheile,

brionOcleirigh

Peace process Without Due process

Caption: Video Id: S6JiOCI68pU Type: Youtube Video
Andy Craig - Long Kesh

by Brian Clarke - AllVoices Fri Jun 28, 2013 05:34

George Santayana is known for famous sayings, like: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" and "Only the dead have seen the end of war." Santayana is broadly included among the pragmatists with Harvard University colleague William James. He said that he stood in philosophy "exactly where he stood in daily life. In the same vein, many observers of recent Irish history are struck, by the uncanny political and religious resemblance of Gerry Adams and (see link) Éamon de Valera

Bearing in mind the current brutal treatment of Irish political prisoners, in the wake of the Peace Process and hunger strikes, Gerry Adams' party's apparent detachment or covert involvement with due process, the critical question for the Irish Republican Movement today, must now surely be the following. Would a Sinn Fein Government led by Gerry Adams in the Free State, rely on special courts, military tribunals and draconian legislation like De Valera (Sinn Fein/ Fianna Fail) previously did, in attempts once again to crush Irish Republicans. and more worryingly a coalition with Fiann Fail deliver even greater repression than the current Zionist Blueshirt axis.

In 1936, De Valera’s Fianna Fáil government introduced special courts to imprison republicans and three years later, in August 1939, during the IRA’s English Campaign, it also established special military tribunals which were empowered to return only one the death sentence, from which there was no appeal. During the early 1940s, hundreds of republicans were interned by De Valera and sentenced to long periods of imprisonment by special courts. Six IRA Volunteers, Paddy McGrath, Thomas Harte, Richie Goss, George Plant, Maurice O’Neill and Charlie Kerins – were tried by military tribunals, found guilty and executed.

The same De Valera Government also allowed another three Republicans, Jack McNeela, Tony D'Arcy and Sean McCaughey die on Hunger-Strike. So the question now is; Would Gerry Adams bearing in mind his current record of collusion, interning innocent people like Martin Corey be another Eamon De Valera disaster? Are Provisional Sinn fein secretly enabling this odious activity with their President's private religious blessing?

An example of this duplicity, is that on 16 September 1953 De Valera met with Churchill for the first and only time, at 10 Downing Street. He surprised the UK Prime Minister by claiming that if he had been in office in 1948 Ireland would not have left the Commonwealt. While Churchill reprimanded De Valera as he would no doubt reprimand Adams today when he said, “The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law and particularly to deny him the judgement of his peers is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist.”

At the general election of 1957, De Valera, then in his seventy-fifth year, won an absolute majority of nine seats, the greatest number he had ever secured. This was the beginning of another sixteen-year period in office for Fianna Fáil. A new economic policy emerged with the First Programme for Economic Expansion. In July 1957, again in response to the Border Campaign (IRA), Part II of the Offences Against the State Act was re-activated and he ordered the internment once again without trial of Irish republican suspects, an action which De Valers claimed, did much to end the IRA's campaign.

But it didn't did it ? Neither did internment in the early '70s with Adams himself interned along with Martin Corey. The central question currently with regard to the political prisoner of conscience Martin Corey Corey is whether Gerry Adams is going down the De Valera route or does he or his party, actually have anything progressive to offer the extremely dysfunctional island of Ireland? The omen are not good without any actual current activity other than a few prayers by Adams on the release of Marian Price. Like the banketer farce, words are simply not good enough at this stage, action is now required. Provisional Sinn Fein have been given the same mandate that the SDLP were given 40 years ago when they withdrew from Stormont and a nominally republican Irish party, has no business there while administering internment. There is no grey area with regard to this, they cannot run with the hare and hunt with the British hounds on this issue any longer. Hiding in prayer, while ignoring Martin Corey's reality is not good enough at this stage.

Duplicity Prayers

Caption: Video Id: a2Y7YAy_bT0 Type: Youtube Video
DeValera Irelands Hated Hero (Part 1 of 4)

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DeValera Irelands Hated Hero (Part 2 of 4)

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DeValera Irelands Hated Hero (Part 3 of 4) Part 4 link below

by Brian Clarke - AllVoices Fri Jun 28, 2013 19:41

Below is a video of Clare Daly raising the internment of Martin Corey, with the Irish government. It is difficult to accept that these highly paid parliamentarians, couldn't even be bothered to attend, bearing in mind all of the state cars and subsidies they are given.

What is even more shocking, is non attendance by the nominally republican party of provisional Sinn Fein and more particularly Gerry Adams. This is a disgrace and the type of lazy parliamentry oversight, that allowed the banks to rob the Irish people. It gives me no pleasure and makes me particularly sad, as a former chairperson of provsional Sinn Fein, to say these people have absolutely nothing progressive to offer Ireland, other than more of the same old Fianna Fail.version of Irish republican ideals.

Clare Daly on the other hand is a good example, of what a real parliamentarian of the people is like and Ireland desperately needs this type of politician, to take it out of the utter mess it is in.Provisional Sinn fein are the biggest political party on the island of Ireland and part of the British administration in British Occupied Ireland. It is simply not good enough for them at this stage, to pick and choose what part they play in the administration of policing and injustice after the lengthy peace processing.The process was sold to families who lost loved ones,volunteers, activists, the Republican Movement on the basis of power sharing. The internment without trial of innocent traditional Irish republicans is the antithesis of the most basic form of republicanism, there is grey area in this matter.

They cannot hoodwink the people of Ireland any longer on this issue. If they believe that the Irish people accept that their 'negotiators' gave up the armed struggle and all of the arms dumps in return for no say or input in policing and injustice they must think we all came down the Boyne in a bubble. They cannot hunt with the British hounds and run with the fox any longer. You are either with us or against us, we demand the immediate release, of the interned, political, prisoner of conscience, Martin Corey immediately or your withdrawal from Stormont, like the SDLP previously did 40 years ago, as a matter of democratic principle.

AWOLnation (1)

Caption: Video Id: DupzdszKyRc Type: Youtube Video
Clare Daly on incarceration of Martin Cory.wmv

by Brian Clarke - AllVoices Sat Jun 29, 2013 20:23

More than a year ago, provisional Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, said action was required on disputed issues arising from the troubles, more particularly he has since said on several occasions, the UK government has refused to honour commitments to the Good Friday, Weston Park and St Andrew’s Agreements. He further said on several occasions, “Mr Kenny needs to tell David Cameron that this is unacceptable.”

Adams gave several examples of commitments reneged on by the British, including inquiries into the murder of lawyer Pat Finucane, the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre, in which 11 people were massacred by British soldiers in Belfast.

Gerry Adams has further claimed that Prime Minister Cameron had stepped away from the peace process since coming into power, a very polite way of saying the British reneged on the Peace Agreement, an extremely serious political matter with regard to an International Peace Agreement of such significance, where the Americans are meant to be guarantors.

Gerry Adams has further stated “Since the election of the Tory/Lib Dem coalition the British prime minister has detached himself from the continuing promotion and development of the peace and political processes.” That is now more than three years ago and Mr Adams and his party have demonstrated considerable weakness by allowing this to run, permitting the internment and the arrest of several of its volunteers, meant to be protected under the agreement.

In 2001, the British agreed to give IRA fugitive volunteers an amnesty, so they could return to British Occupied Ireland without fear of arrest and prosecution, but the British government later reneged on its promises, citing lawmaker refusal to back the deal thus in reality violating all of the Peace Process.

Now all competent negotiators know, the devil is in the detail and you negotiate up not down, something obviously the experienced British are aware of but which the leadership of the Provisionals have seriously neglected. Now this is no small matter in such an Agreement

Last month British prosecutors charged a 61-year-old Irishman with the 1982 IRA attack on the queen's cavalry in Hyde Park that left four soldiers and seven horses dead. The surprise arraignment of John Downey in a London court, came on the 15th anniversary of the supposed ratification of the Good Friday Peace Agreement for British Occupied Ireland, which has tried to end four decades of bloodshed, in the British Occupied Irish territory. The British have failed to explain why they arrested John Downey at this particular time, after he arrived at London's Gatwick Airport, almost 31 years after the attack.

Provisional Sinn Fein naturally demanded Downey's immediate release, that is the least they could do for one of their own. The Irish nationalist party and former republicans, accuse Britain once again of violating an agreement to not pursue John Downey, who had been on a list of IRA suspects "on the run" from the British for years. Gerry Kelly called Downey's arrest "vindictive, unnecessary and unhelpful" and an act of "bad faith" by the British government to be still pursuing Irish Republican Army volunteers, in keeping with the spirit, if not the letter, of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

These continuous arrests of IRA veterans, with Sinn Fein connections, have raised tension in the peace process, which is still incomplete all these years later which local Councillor Murray for Mr Downey said he "should never have been arrested"."In 2007, he received a letter from the British Government, informing him that he was not wanted by any British police force. He then traveled to Britain numerous times without any problems.

"John has been a long time supporter of the peace process and as a peace worker he regularly engaged with unionists. He always put his head above the mark in promoting a new republic. I don't think the British government is going to wake up tomorrow and say Donegal County Council has told us what to do, but it was Donegal County Council laying out quite clearly that the Good Friday Agreement should be defended."

Mr Downey has been remanded at a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey. A motion calling for his release was passed at a meeting of Donegal County Council. Mr Downey is being held in London's Belmarsh prison. This case along with the internment without trial of several other Irish republicans, including 63 old Martin Corey, who has been interned more than 3 years without trial, clearly demonstrates bad faith by the Tories, since their election three years ago and considerable secret service input from MI5, who have much money and power to lose, with a successful peace process in British Occupied Ireland.

With systematic dismantling of the process over more than three years now, the obvious question is why would the provisional leadership give up their armed struggle and their tons of armaments without having a serious input into power sharing in these essential matters. The agreement was sold to everyone on the basis of power sharing. Which takes us to the next obvious question of why the Provisionals are not exercising their considerable political empowerment under the process, to protect former comrades and volunteers, who helped put them in power in the first instance?

Which takes us to an even more fundamental and basic question, which is on the minds of most genuine Irish republicans. It is a very uncomfortable question, but after three years of political internment without trial of aging brave volunteers, there is no diplomatic way of phrasing it, other than in a blunt manner. Is the majority of the Provo leadership compromised to the British secret services. In other words are MI5 who have always traditionally blackmailed anyone of influence in their former colonies, to politically control them, pulling all of the Provo strings, within the political leadership of provisional Sinn Fein.

The last time I raised this subject, I was physically threatened not by Sinn Fein I might add but in the absence of ACTION rather than weasel words and with senior figures having gone AWOL on the subject, it is an obvious and basic question to ask. As someone who has come to reluctantly accept, that the peace process has been a reality for some time and that successful armed struggle is not realistic in the long term within such a small population, there are however, plenty of other options for Irish republicans.

The most obvious one starting with Provo withdrawal from Stormont along with a properly organized peaceful campaign of civil disobedience, like the non-republican SDLP last time. It is long overdue, it is time to call these Supremacist Tories in London to account, along with their sectarian Orange Order friends. The Provos did have commendable input in the release of the long suffering Marian Price and that is the sort of Republican Movement unity that will bring these warmongering Tory racists and Orange fascists to account.

Spartans

Caption: Video Id: OCbuRA_D3KU Type: Youtube Video
Danny Boy

by Lizbeth2013 Mon Jul 01, 2013 04:32

Gerry Adams, looks like he is on the road to ensure compliance with the agreements claiming political prisoners like Martin Corey without trial.
It doesn’t have to be so confusing or complicated. A human being that's arbitrarily imprisoned by those who see him as a political enemy and because of his actions should be released.
Martin Corey, is in a jail, for being a thinking individual, for his ideas. That's so archaic, and lead the Irish people, into the sad episodes like those imprisonments, for no apparent reason, but only to defend human rights.
These circumstances, were lasting for decades, they have to give a full turn, and go down to history.
Selfishness has led Britons to blood, being what they are and always been, not for noble reasons, as would be self-defense. It is a way they find to grow as a country. Surely there're other ways.
To what extent people that dominate by force to other people will also not damage themselves?, can it be in other way?. Can it be in other way??.
British and Irish Government, can find other paths to dialogue and tolerance, Especially if your decisions involve the cost of the innocent lives?. The cost of this are the innocent lives!!. Did you notice?.
If they can get along with their brothers, both subsist. Annihilation of people in prison for their ideas isn't necessary.
It's not necessary that a particular country and his administration, in order to stay afloat, believe that it is good to keep innocent prisoners captive. On the contrary, it would be better for government administrations, to understand, that freedom of expression give better positions to them, and everyone benefits.
If I could, I would like to say to the British Government, and the Irish Government, for me two amazing countries in the world, please, can you let resentments aside to give a way to understanding and peace agreements?
I pray to God to find the better solution for both. As a Christian, I think that To Christ, should the damage persist, it will be hard.
Today, in Ireland, and British Occupied Ireland, have a double standard, is not good for nations, because it is inappropriate for their citizens, and for any human being, is cruel, is vile not to procure freedom and a good rise between brothers and sisters.
Then learn from our Lord JESUS ​​CHRIST, who gave us the gospel wings to live, maybe the Government can give wings to Martin Corey, and so he can live with his family, as a man in freedom and in years.
I don't know if it is the right place to say this, but I have understood that Mr. Gerry Adams, is Jesuit, I wonder if he separates his faith, and put aside his beliefs, for agree with the powerful of the government, or, conversely, ignores all, in pursuit to realize the ideals of his faith, through his hands, on behalf of the principal divine commandment that Jesus left us to all mankind: "Love your neighbor as yourself".
When an innocent suffer, humanity suffers.
It's a hope for many people, that Gerry Adams can make the release of Martin Corey a reality, so, that could be an example of his faith in the Lord.

by brionOcleirigh - AllVoices Mon Jul 01, 2013 06:36

Thanks Lizbeth !

I understand English is not your first language but you have expressed yourself beautifully and while you speak the language of the heart, from so far away, yet you are so close to ireland. Wish we had more Irish Women like you ! We do have some really good ones, who are in touch with their heart like you, like Marian Price for example, who was just released. I know from your support with her too, you were so happy like all of us when she was released. I understand from you previous support you are Jewish and you understand the agony of concentration camps like where martin spent most of his adult life in Long Kesh. I came across this article today in Informationa Clearing House which puts it rather well, I believe.

" The Crime of Indifference

Elie Wiesel is a worldwide personality. Through his powerful descriptive writing about the Nazi concentration camps, he has come to personify the suffering of the Holocaust. Among his many insights is the famous observation, “The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.” Wiesel has repeatedly put forth this idea. In a 2011 commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis he told his listeners, “The greatest commandment — to me — in the Bible . . . is ‘Thou shalt not stand idly by.’ Which means when you witness an injustice, don’t stand idly by.” After a Boston lecture in 2012 Wiesel told Boston University students “I think that is the greatest danger, ignorance, which leads to indifference and therefore to detachment. . . .If somebody suffers and I don’t do anything to diminish his or her suffering, something is wrong with me.”

Unfortunately, Wiesel has identified himself with Zionism and by doing so has inevitably been caught up in contradictions and dilemmas that challenge his reputation as a moral icon. For instance, in May 2010 he made a public appeal to President Obama not to put any pressure on the Israeli government over the issue of Jerusalem even as the Israelis evicted Palestinian residents. In doing so he revealed his own indifference to the real nature of Israeli objectives and behavior. As a result a hundred Israeli intellectuals and activists wrote him a public reply expressing “frustration” and “outrage” at his attitude and actions.

Nonetheless, his comments about indifference and insensitivity are important and insightful and can be used as a standard to judge some of his fellow Zionists, many of whom have been “standing idly by” for decades and thus are examples of Wiesel’s dictum, “if somebody suffers and I don’t do anything to diminish his or her suffering, something is wrong with me.”

Part II – Israeli Indifference

Recently there have been several articles calling attention to the fact that, as Uri Avnery puts it, “We [Israelis] have become so accustomed to this situation [an occupation “going on only a few minutes drive from our homes”] that we see it as normal.” Ethan Bronner, the New York Times’ former Jerusalem bureau chief, confirmed this pervasive indifference to the suffering that Israeli policies and discriminatory practices cause. “Few [Israelis] even talk about the Palestinians . . . .Instead of focusing on what has long been seen as their central challenge — how to share this land with another nation — Israelis are largely ignoring it.”

More specifically they are ignoring such revelations as the fact that since September 2000, when the second Intifada broke out, Israeli forces have killed over 1500 Palestinian children. According to the Middle East Monitor, that means “one child killed by Israel every 3 days for almost 13 years.” In the same time the number of children injured has reached 6000 and the number under the age of 18 arrested is about 9000. The suffering of Palestinians, documented by the United Nations as well as private NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, is ongoing yet apparently unnoticed by the average Israeli.

Nor is any improvement in the situation likely. While Israelis display indifference to Palestinian suffering, the Israeli government has indicated its intention to keep the regime of suffering going indefinitely. According to Israeli trade minister Naftali Bennett, “a rising star in the Israeli cabinet,” the idea of a Palestinian state is “dead” and Israel should annex large portions of the West Bank. Danny Danon, the deputy defense minister, agrees. “We are a nationalist government, not a government that will establish a Palestinian government in the 1967 lines.” Meanwhile, a significant number of Israelis, whether they think about it or not, are profiting from the expanding, and illegal, occupation of Palestinian land.

Part III – The Role of Ignorance

Thus we can ask, using Wiesel’s words, what is wrong with the Israelis that they care little or nothing for the Palestinians’ 65 years of suffering? Wiesel himself has part of the answer when he observes “ignorance . . . leads to indifference and therefore to detachment.”

Ignorance? Is the average Israeli really ignorant in this matter? At first this assertion appears ridiculous. After all, as Avnery notes, the suffering of the Palestinians is never more than “minutes” from most Israeli backyards, and it now and then violently boomerangs back on Israeli Jews. Nonetheless, a kind of contrived, willful ignorance does come into play. One can be raised in ignorance and educated to a view of history that eliminates others’ suffering as well as one’s role in causing it. Entire populations can be psychologically shaped this way, with those doing the shaping being the truest of the true believers. Such conditioned ignorance lays the foundation for indifference to the fate of others. The Israelis have made an art of this process.

Yet, this scenario is not original with the Israelis and Zionists. In fact, many Zionists learned how to see the world this way from Americans. Some years back I published a book, America’s Palestine in which this legacy is explored. As it turns out, one of the Zionist themes of the 1920s was that the native Palestinians were the Arab equivalent of hostile American Indians, violently resisting the forces of civilization and modernization. What was the average American’s attitude to the fate of these Indians — to their brutal dispossession and ethic cleansing? It was indifference which has grown greater with time until most Americans do not give the Indians or their fate much thought at all.

Several years ago, at a debate held at the University of Pennsylvania, I tried to explain this connection to an Israeli vice consul from the Philadelphia consulate and his coterie of Zionist students. I suggested to them that the long-term Zionist strategy was to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians and then count on the world to, over time, get used to and then forget this crime. In a hundred or a hundred and fifty years, who would cry over the Palestinians? About the same number as bemoan the Apache or Cheyenne today? However, I also told them that in our post-imperialist world, this historical scenario was unlikely to repeat itself. The reception to all of this from the Consul and his hangers-on was negative. They walked out.

Part IV – Conclusion

The indifference, leading to detachment, that Wiesel so fears can quickly become a habitual part of our lives. After all, so much of our lives are just “a stream of habitual actions” that can be either “rationally useful or irrationally unfit for a given situation.” It is in the latter case that we get into trouble. When Israelis ignore Palestinian suffering they act in a way “irrationally unfit for their given situation” and that means, in Wiesel’s terms, “there is something wrong” with them. As Americans, we should recognize the symptoms, for we too have repeatedly behaved in this fashion. Having modeled this insensitivity for the Zionists, it now stands as a mark of our “special relationship” with the land of Israel. "

Lawrence Davidson was born in 1945 in Philadelphia PA. He grew up in Elizabeth NJ in a secular Jewish household. In 1963 he matriculated at Rutgers University for his BA. At Rutgers, Davidson developed a left leaning activist orientation to the problems facing the US in the 1960s. In 1967 he moved on to Georgetown University for his MA. -

Le cúnamh Dé Lizbeth, beidh Mairtin saor go luath!

brionOcleirigh

indifference

Caption: Video Id: HsCp5LG_zNE Type: Youtube Video
Celtic Woman - Amazing Grace

by W. Finnerty Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:24

With all the NSA and GCHQ snooping that's been going on during the past 10 YEARS or so, there's no telling what kind of blackmailing and manipulating (and such like) that ALL -- or almost all -- of our senior politicians and lawyers might, by now, be VERY severely "tongue-tied" by?

Everybody has "skeletons in the cupboard" (apart from myself and yourself of course!!); and now, thanks to the revelations of people like Edward Snowden, we know for sure that many such "skeletons" are also in the NSA and GCHQ cupboards as well.

The bankster owners of the NSA and the GCHQ are now very likely in a position to say to virtually ALL senior lawyers and politicians (all around the world): "Do as we say or we'll shake the dust off some telephone conversations of yours from a few years back, and release them to Sir Anthony O'Reilly (for example) in a timely manner -- and without "letting on" to the general public where they came from -- and that will very rapidly 'straighten your a**es out for you': should you persist with failing to do, and/or NOT do, EVERYTHING that you know we wish you to do, and to NOT do, or to say anything about in public."

In reality "they" (the bankster "owners" of the NSA and the GCHQ) very likely don't have to say ANYTHING at all in most cases: because the very FEAR of what they now know about all our "public servants" relating to ANY number of things, including information on the taking of bribes in some cases for example, all backed-up on multiple hard disks at several different international locations all around the world no doubt, and which they can (and might) "leak" at ANY time via any one of their great many MSM (Main Stream Media) lackeys, and/or "economist" lackeys, or whatever other type of lackey they wish to use, is probably more than "enough to do the trick" in all but a relatively small number of cases? And, even if that's not fully the case just yet, it very soon will be: with all the talk of "Parliamentary Enquiries" from "bankster lackeys" such as Minister Joan Burton TD (for more on this see at http://www.indymedia.ie/article/103816#comment296439 ).

I notice also that former Director for Public Prosecutions James Hamilton, the bankster-loving unconvicted criminal who has tried TWICE -- unsuccessfully -- to corruptly criminalise me (with 100% impunity), has also suddenly been "pulled out of the woodwork", for the purpose of recommending that legal action against the new "I pulled it out of my a**e" targets: without delay. I wonder what these "fresh targets" did, or threatened to do, or -- more likely perhaps -- were overheard by the NSA/GCHQ snoopers talking about on the phone?

For such reasons it seems to me that, in connection with helping of Martin Corey (and all others in similar positions to his), we "the people" desperately need to raise the LEGAL issue of Article 13 of the EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 2003 -- the "Right to an effective remedy" -- all across the www system as best we can; and, by such "people power" efforts to firmly but gently "pressure" our senior lawyers and politicians to OPENLY demonstrate genuine and consistent respect for human rights law in public (using all the lawful and peaceful means available to us all).

In other words, we "the people" need to help our senior lawyers and politicians to do what they might not now be able to do by themselves at the present time: i.e. without the WELL INFORMED, socially benign, www type social pressure that we "the people", the "general public" if you prefer that term, can introduce into the present Internet "political equation" regarding the factual existence of human rights law -- based on the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- which has almost all been UNLAWFULLY disabled for no good reason whatsoever (that I know of).

Far more importantly perhaps, from the viewpoint of helping Martin Corey (and all of the many others who are unhappily in similar positions to his all across the European Union territories), is the matter of the way that our senior lawyers and politicians have all MYSTERIOUSLY swept Article 47 of "The Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union" -- the "Right to an effective remedy and to a FAIR TRIAL" -- from "under our noses", to "under the carpets" of the fascist, totalitarian, 100% ANTI-HUMAN RIGHTS banksters: in addition to the more or less identical fate for Article 13 of THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS ACT (referred to above).

Related e-mail to Chief Justice Susan Denham:
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/ChiefJusticeSusanDenh...l.htm
(Sent on May 10th 2013)

Changing the subject to some extent, and before finishing, I'd like to take this opportunity to let you know that I very much enjoy some of the songs you have been adding (such as "Danny Boy" and "Amazing Grace" for example) to your comments. For me at least, they provide a very welcome break from all the "heavy stuff": which, though it has to be tackled -- if we're ever (as a nation) to get ourselves out of the almighty mess we're now in "politically and legally" -- can drag people down if there's nothing to "keep the balance".

For anybody interested, I'm providing a link (at this point of my comment) to one of my favourite Irish songs ...
"I wish I was in Carrickfergus" sung (in the video clip) by Joan Beaz at the following www location:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S7ITkoxojI
(Performed at Bratislava in Central Europe in 1989)

Related Link:
"Prime Minister David Cameron TD, Article 47 of The Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Human Rights Ireland ..."
http://tinyurl.com/qhtglhz

by brionOcleirigh - AllVoices Mon Jul 01, 2013 14:30

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael who pushed the Irish Bailout sold Ireland down the IMF river, to bail out City of London Rothchild bondholders and giant Rothchild European banks. Both Irish governments have told and still tell the Irish people, that the bailout is all for our own good. Ireland and its people are now another nation of IMF debt slaves for the international banking cartels. Goldman Sachs and Rothschild & Compagnie are the main beneficiaries, with both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael Governments elected by the Irish people, to protect the people's interests, being sold down the river, with political economic treachery, taking care of their own interests and banker election backers instead.

Anglo-Irish Bank never wast a systemic risk to the Irish economy, because it wasn’t a high street bank like AIB and the Bank of Ireland. If it was allowed to go bankrupt like Lehmans, only the shareholders and bondholders would lose. The Irish Governments of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour supported and nationalised a bank of crooked lenders to property speculators of the housing bubble.

Ireland’s political establishment are protecting foreign investors, Anglo-Irish bondholders at the expense of the Irish people and its future generations? These are the only people Ireland’s politicians care about: The plain people of Ireland are paying and protecting the wealth and power of people with more than a 100 times more wealth than the whole nation of Ireland!

Aside from the City of London who benefit most from the 'bail out' of Ireland, are the elite bondholders, like other parts of the the Rothschild family, scattered all over Europe were, Jean-Claude Trichet (Rothschild Zionist) at the European Central Bank and Dominique Strauss-Kahn (Rothschild Zionist) of the IMF. So the banks that caused the crash in Ireland, to which the Rothschild Zionists in power are 'responding' for their own benefit, were also invariably controlled, ultimately, by another branch of the Rothschild Zionists in Europe.

Bottom line Goldman Sachs were fundamentally responsible for the crash of 2008, with its former Chairperson and CEO, Henry 'Hank' Paulson, just installed as US Treasury Secretary who started the bank bailout policy, with massive benefit to Goldman Sachs at the end of the Bush era. Goldman Sachs were also directly involved in the collapse, that started the 'euro panic' that engulfed Ireland. Rothschild Zionist secret society network have everything stitched up with the Rothschild Zionist secret network having agents in governments, the banking system, the IMF, and control through ownership of the world's mainstream media.

The Rothschilds control banking, stock markets, commodity markets, currency valuation, the price of gold, the lot. The City of London is controlled by 'investor confidence' by those who control the media, government and central bank financial statements and move trillions around the world's financial markets every day. This is the Rothschilds and their banking, political, media, policing, lackeys.

Rothschild Zionism is at the elite secret, rotten core, who are NOT agents of the Jewish people but agents of a secret society, that has manipulated the Jewish people for centuries just like they have manipulated the Irish people, who also suffered a holocaust, where millions of its population were wiped off the face of the earth.

Currently the British version of AIPAC, is the Friends of Israel network, in every major political party. Over 80-per-cent of Members of Parliament in the now ruling Tory Party, are members of the Friends of Israel, which has the stated aim of supporting anything that is good ffor the Rothschilds, who own Israel. Current British Prime Minister, David Cameron, is a Rothschild Zionist, in a country with a Jewish population of 280,000 in a total population of 62 million. These are the people who are destroying the Irish Peace Process by re-introducing internment without trial simply because there is more money in war and armaments than in peace and extends there secret network even further, within the expanding British SS based on the terror narrative they create.

The key manipulating force in the previous UK governments of Tony Blair was Peter Mandelson another Rothschild Zionist. The Rothschilds controlled Blair in the same way they controlled Bill Clinton and George W. Bush going into wars urged on by Israeli the Rothschilds..It was the secret worldwide, Rothschild network, that orchestrated the very profitable invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the War of Terror and its justification, September 11th. In analysing all of this it is critically important to distinguish between ordinary, decent, good Jewish people and these Zionists, the article link below explains this. This is of critical importance, so that we do not repeat the racist crimes of the past and engage in anti-semitism.

brionOcleirigh

The History Of The House Of Rothschild

Keiser Report

Caption: Video Id: FqychBtOQRA Type: Youtube Video
Stacy Herbert The Great British Bank Robbery Part 2

by brionOcleirigh - AllVoices Mon Jul 01, 2013 23:55

ReShare, ReTweet wherever you Can

Release Martin Corey

Interned Irish Political Prisoner of Conscience in

British Occupied Ireland

GAILLIMH

Caption: Video Id: Py2VjDV1zx0 Type: Youtube Video
Arnold August: Left Forum Presentation 6.8.13

by Lizbeth2013 Tue Jul 02, 2013 05:24

To brionOcleirigh - AllVoices
Brion Ocleirigh, thank you for your kind words and your exposure. I would like to read your book when I have time, it’ll be very interesting. I think hatred is the worst enemy of man.
I know that there are grounds for resentment, things happened and they might remain unforgettable.
I do not forget the two terrorist attacks in my country.
Also, I would like to say that a person that puts children as human shields is equally criminal than the one who kills an innocent child.
I’m not a political person. What I’m really interested in, is the underlying issues, which are never resolved.
Freedom for Martin Corey, and all innocent political prisoners without charge.

by brionOcleirigh - AllVoices Tue Jul 02, 2013 14:41

Martin Corey who served almost twenty years in Long Kesh Concentration Camp, British Occupied Ireland as a Political Prisoner, has been interned again without trial for the last three years. Martin was released in 199i but despite serving such a lengthy period as a Political Hostage, Martin remained dedicated to his beliefs as an Irish Republican and to his community.

More than three years ago the Lurgan Republican was wrongfully interned in Maghaberry Gaol again on the word of the British Secret Services, MI5. Martin Corey is not guilty of any crime. He simply believes in the re-unification of his country and has not been involved in any militant activity,since his release in 1992. It is not a crime to be Irish or peacefully demonstrate support for Eire Nua, unless you live in the scum state of British Occupied Ireland

The British are simply making an example of Martin, to strike fear in all those who would dare stand up for their human rights, particularly the thousands of ex-Political Prisoners after the peace process in Ireland who would support peaceful alternatives to provisional Sinn Fein. The British and their agents in the supposed free state are censoring peaceful working class alternatives to a united island of Ireland.

Those within the Nationalist and Republican community who have taken up seats in the British parliament of Stormont or on British paramilitary police boards, must ask themselves will they continue to be silent partners in these tactics of British repression. Last time internment was introduced, it started 40 years od war in Ireland and the Nationalist party of that time the SDLP walked out of the British parliament. Jim McIlmurray a totally non political friend wrote the following;"Martin Corey has spent three years in Maghaberry Prison without any charges ever being placed against him. During that time, police have never questioned or interviewed Martin regarding any incident, occurrence or event relating to his imprisonment.

So who is Martin Corey ?

Martin Corey is a 63 year old man who served more than 19 years of his life in Long Kesh Concentration Camp as a republican prisoner. He was released by the prison authorities in 1992 and began to rebuild his life. He is a popular figure from a well respected, hard-working family in the town.

It was a proud day for Martin when he was granted a loan to purchase his own mechanical digger. After a time, he gained the contract as the parish grave digger, covering several cemeteries in the greater Lurgan area. Many people, myself included, will recall his compassionate approach and professionalism during the time of families' bereavement.

In all the time I have known Martin, I have only known his interests to be his family, his friends and his love of coarse fishing.

On Friday, April 16th, 2010, the police arrived at his O’Neill’s Terrace home and told him they had a warrant for his arrest. Martin was brought to Lurgan PSNI station and later that day transferred to Maghaberry prison. It was stated he broke the terms of his Life Licence release. When his solicitor requested to know what Martin was alleged to have done, he was told it a matter of National Security and the subject of closed file information.

For the past three years, his solicitor and lawyers have challenged his unlawful detention on numerous occasions in the High Court. On Monday, the 9th of July, 2012, a High Court judge, Justice Seamus Tracy, who has a background in the European Human Rights Courts, ordered Martin’s immediate release, stating that his Human Rights had been breached under sections 4 and 5 of the European Human Rights act and that there were no charges for which he should answer. I waited for 4 hours outside Maghaberry with Martin’s family that day, only to be told at 4:15pm that the then current Secretary of State, Owen Patterson, had overruled the High Court judge and blocked Martin's release. I was 25 yards away from Martin when I received that call. I watched him step out of the prison van at the reception centre and watched him walk back to the van to be returned to his cell. As he got into the van, he paused and stared at me and that will always be one of the hardest and cruelest moments I have ever witnessed in my life.

Martin has a legal entitlement to an annual Parole Board review every twelve calendar months to reevaluate the reasons for his continued detention. I have been accepted to speak on Martin’s behalf; however, every date set for a hearing for Martin last year was followed by a cancellation by the Parole Board, citing numerous excuses. Martin hasn’t received a parole review in 18 months, an action deemed illegal by the Court of Human Rights in Strasburg. We are currently awaiting a date to take this case to the High Court for a judicial review.

Martin has been subjected to a number of incidents during his time in Maghaberry Prison. These incidents include waiting over three weeks for an emergency dental appointment; of note, a veterinarian would have a legal obligation to report a pet owner for cruelty if he found an animal to be suffering for that period. Also, Martin's request for compassionate leave to attend the funeral of his brother was denied by both the Prison Service and the Courts without any reasons given. He was only granted leave to attend 1 hour before the service started after a request was made to the Justice Minister on humanitarian grounds. I had to make three requests to the Prison Ombudsman to intervene in cases concerning material submitted by myself for Martin for use in his cell crafts. The prison staff either confiscated the printed image materials or refused to provide them to Martin. The Prison Ombudsman upheld all three decisions in Martin’s favour, ruling against the Northern Ireland Prison Service and determining that the material must be provided to Martin.

Martin’s case has been in the High Court in Belfast several times over the past three years, without any finding of criminal offence with which to charge him. Had Martin been charged with possession of an illegal firearm during his arrest three years previously, he would have been released six months ago. There is no other name for his illegal detention other than internment without trail.

As a close friend of Martin's, I am in a better position than most to know if he was ever involved in any activity that could be deemed illegal or “a threat to National Security”, a phrase often utilized by faceless, nameless individuals in the courts. I can say without fear of contradiction that Martin is an innocent man. Everyone should make their voice be heard and call upon the Secretary of State to either bring charges against him or release him immediately.

I speak to Martin by telephone on a daily basis and visit him regularly in Maghaberry Prison, and can assure everyone that his spirits remain high despite his total lack of confidence in the judicial system in the North of Ireland. He thanks everyone for their continued messages of support .

We are currently awaiting a date to attend the Court of Appeal in London to challenge his illegal detention. If unsuccessful there, we will take his case to the European Courts of Justice. We will continue our presence at the Belfast High Court to request the Parole Board to give an explanation as to why Martin has been denied his legal right to an annual Parole Review."

Retweet to Release Martin Corey

Political Prisoner of Conscience

British Occupied Ireland.

Tories Takin the Piss Process

Caption: Video Id: dpYYpf8v0DM Type: Youtube Video
LONG KESH REPUBLICANS UNBOWED UNBROKEN

by brionOcleirigh - AllVoices Tue Jul 02, 2013 23:13

During the seventies, former bishop of Derry Edward Daly experienced Bloody Sunday close up, where the British shot dead 14 unarmed innocent civil rights protesters on Bloody Sunday, protesting internment, when he gave all 14 of them, their last rites. He visited both loyalist and republican prisoners in the infamous Long Kesh Concentration Camp – later renamed by the disgraced British as the Maze.

In 1976, paramilitary prisoners had their ‘political’ status removed and were treated as criminals, which sparked the blanket protests and political prisoners refused to wear jail uniforms, which later escalated into hunger strikes. Below is an an extract from Bishop Daly's book, describing the foul conditions at Long Kesh Concentration Camp, where current political internee Martin Corey, has spent most of his adult life. He is 63 now, having spent 22 years as a political prisoner of conscience in British hellholes, 19 years in Long Kesh, seperate from the most recent, being 3 years in Maghaberry without trial. He is still interned more than 40 years later, in British Occupied Ireland despite a Peace Process without due process.

IN MARCH 1978, the prisoners ‘on the blanket’ escalated their protest by refusing to clean out their cells, wash or go to the toilet. They smeared the walls and ceilings of their cells with their own excrement and the floors streamed with urine. The lasting memory of visits to Long Kesh during that protest was the horrendous stench. The cells were industrially cleaned by the prison authorities with power hoses from time to time and prisoners were moved to other cells. I have no idea how people lived or worked in those conditions. During my visits there to the wings, I was violently ill on several occasions. The revolting and foul smell seemed to permeate everything I wore, even days after the visit. Items of outer clothing, even after dry cleaning, were virtually unusable subsequently.
In 1980, after four years of unsuccessful protests appealing for special status, a status that would recognise them as political prisoners, prisoners of war rather than criminals, rumours began to circulate that a hunger strike was imminent.
Individually and jointly, Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich and I made several lengthy visits to the H-Blocks in Long Kesh Prison in the spring and summer months of 1980, meeting virtually all the protesting prisoners individually in their cells. These visits usually lasted from early morning until late in the evening. We also met with the prison authorities and visited some Loyalist prisoners, including some of their better-known leaders.
‘It was a parallel universe’

Those lengthy visits to Long Kesh are etched forever in my memory. Spending seven or eight hours at a time going around cells visiting young men in those conditions was unforgettable. It was a parallel universe. There were usually two men in each cell. Their hair was matted and they had long unkempt beards. They were thin and haggard and their eyes were sunken. They wore long blankets. There was no furniture in the cells. The stench was intense and allpervasive. I simply do not know how people retained their sanity after spending such a long time in that environment. Yet I always found the prisoners in high spirits and imbued with a steely determination. Only a few of them talked about a hunger strike.

However, Cardinal Ó Fiaich and I were both convinced that if they embarked upon that course, they would see it through. We also believed that if these men were to embark on their threatened hunger strike, it could have disastrous consequences for the community as a whole. We decided to approach the British Government jointly on behalf of the prisoners. We believed that they had a legitimate and arguable case and that both the Government and prisoners and society generally in the North would benefit from a less stringent and degrading prison regime. We reached this conclusion on the basis that were it not for the political circumstances that these young people found themselves in, most of them would never

have seen the inside of a prison. Most of them came from stable family backgrounds.
We also believed that these protests were undertaken on the prisoners’ own initiative, rather than on bidding or orders from any group outside the prison. Equally, we believed that the protest in the prison was perceived by the prisoners as their continuing contribution to the struggle going on outside the prison.

The issue was further complicated by the fact that a sustained paramilitary campaign was going on contemporaneously throughout the North. In the course of that campaign, many prison officers were murdered. Those who perpetrated these murders claimed that they were acting in support of the prisoners on protest. There was intense anger and hatred between the prisoners and prison staff. There were many allegations of assault. Intimate body searches were frequently carried out, often in a brutal and demeaning manner. There are few dignified methods where intimate strip searches are concerned. The searcher and the searched are dehumanised. Long Kesh was a loathsome, hateful place as well as a powder keg as the 1970s moved to the 1980s.

Edward Daly and Cardinal Ó Fiaich would later meet with the British government in an attempt to negotiate an end to the 1981 hunger strikes, in which ten prisoners died. He writes that the strikes worsened community divisions, and intensified violence, concluding: “I hope there will never again be a hunger strike in Ireland.”

See Link for details and Retweet or Reshare if you Support the ReleaseMartinCorey Campaign.

releaseLongKesh

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Long Kesh Live 1972...Thoughts of Solitude - Free the People