They gave up everything for their families, for their friends, for their comrades, for their communities, for the working class; for their country.
We remember them with honour and with pride.
With many thanks to: Irish Fenian Brotherhood.
It has been brought to the attention of Belfast 32csm that the much needed mental health facilities at the Everton Centre in Ardoyne are to be closed due to a lack of funding…….
Facilities like this are s necessity in the Ardoyne area which has a substantially high number of people with mental health issues, as do many working class communities. We totally condemn the closure of such services due to the lack of funding whilst at the same time British security forces including MI5, Special Branch,
SAS and the unreformed RUC are receiving millions of pounds of tax payers money to harass and oppress this small republican community. With the closure of Everton Centre many patients will have to travel to different unfamiliar facilities, in many cases these facilities are based in the heart of loyalist areas which would inevitably cause even more distress and anxiety.
Over the next few weeks we would ask everyone to highlight this issue and hopfully bring an end to the closure of this much needed service and show that we all support mental health treatment right across the board.
With many thanks to: Conchobhar Óbreaslain – 32 County Sovereignty Movement :
THE British government‘s dchancellor of the exchequergovernment’s, George Osborne, was full of self-congratulation when giving his autumn statement on December 5. The statement included new attacks on working people – in this case, attacks on the young, but encompassing everyone.
In particularly, the autumn statement also included attacks on the pensions of all working people. The state pension age was already due to increase to 68 in 2046, but the British coalation government has brought that forward by 10 years, meaning that people who are in their mid-forties now will not be able to take their state pension until they are 68. The Westminister Pensions Bill, which applies to the North of Ireland, also allows the British government to increase the pension age every five years if it wishes – and the British government has already announced that, if its plans stay on course, people in their thirties will have a pension age of 69 and people in their twenties will have one of 70.
My union, NASUWT, which is by far the largest teacher’s union in the North of Ireland, is appalled by the ‘work till you drop’ culture that is now the British government’s vision for the people of Britain and the North of Ireland. Increasing the pension age during a period of unemployment and the worst recession for decades is utter madness, as it reduces already scarce job vacancies as those in work are being forced to work for longer. The people of the North of Ireland have no control over the Westminster Pensions Bill, but they do have control over the Public Service Pensions Bill, which is due to begin the consideration stage in the assembly after CChristmas. The Public Service Pensions Bill equalises the normal pension age and the state pension age for the majority of public service workers in the North of Ireland, including teachers, health workers and civil servants. This means that young Northern Irish teachers can expect to have to work until they are 70 to receive their teacher’s pension – unless the bill is changed. The NASUWT has been at the forefront of lobbying our MLAs to bring amendments to the bill in the interests of the young and old, those in work and those who are unemployed. We call on our MLAs to stand up for all public service workers who dedicate their lives to serving the public. When assembly elections are next held we will be calling on our members to vote only for those MLAs who defend them.
With many thanks to: Justin McCamphill, NASUWT uunion’s NI junior vice president, writing for: The Irish News.
REPUBLICAN HUNGER STRIKERS 1917- 1976
THOMAS ASHE-DIED 25TH SEPTEMBER 1917, MOUNTJOY PRISON.
MICHAEL FITZGERALD-DIED 17TH OCT 1920 CORK JAIL.
TERENCE MCSWINEY-DIED 0CT 1920 BRIXTON PRISON.
JOSEPH MURPHY DIED OCT 1920 CORK JAIL.
JOSEPH WHITTY DIED 2ND SEPTEMBER 1923,CURRAGH CAMP.
DENIS BARRY-DIED 20TH NOVEMBER, NEWBRIDGE CONCENTRATION CAMP.
ANDREW SULLIVAN DIED 22ND NOV,NEWBRIDGE CONCENTRATION CAMP.
TONY D’ARCY DIED 19TH APRIL 1940,ARBOUR HILL PRISON.
JACK McNEELA DIED 19TH APRIL 1940, ARBOUR HILL PRISON.
SEAN McGAUGHEY DIED 11TH MAY 1946, PORTLOISE PRISON.
MICHAEL GAUGHAN DIED 3RD JUNE 1974, PARKHURST PRISON.
FRANK STAGG 12TH FEB 1976, WAKEFIELD PRISON.
32 ANNIVERSARY OF THE H-BLOCK MARTYRS
BOBBY SANDS-AGED 27, FROM BELFAST, DIED 5TH MAY AFTER 66 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE.
FRANCIS HUGHES AGED 25 FROM SOUTH DERRY, DIED 12TH MAY AFTER 59 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE.
RAYMOND McCREESH AGED 24,FROM SOUTH ARMAGH,DIED 21ST MAY AFTER 61 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE.
PATSY O’HARA AGED 24, FROM DERRY CITY, DIED AFTER 21ST MAY AFTER 61 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE.
JOSEPH McDONNELL AGED 30,FROM BELFAST,DIED 8TH JULY AFTER 61 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE.
MARTIN HURSON AGED24 FROM EAST TYRONE,DIED 13TH JULY AFTER 46 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE.
KEVIN LYNCH AGED 25, FROM NORTH DERRY, DIED 1 AUG AFTER 71 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE.
KIERAN DOHERTY AGED 25 FROM BELFAST, DIED 2ND OF AUG AFTER 73 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE.
THOMAS McELWEE AGED 23 FROM SOUTH DERRY, DIED 8TH OF AUG AFTER 62 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE.
MICHAEL DIVINE AGED 27 FROM DERRY CITY, DIED 20TH AUG AFTER 60 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE.
THE USE OF THE HUNGER STRIKE BEGAN BY IRISH REPUBLICANS WHEN IN 1913 JAMES CONNOLLY WENT ON HUNGER STRIKE.OVER THE NEXT 80 YEARS MANY MORE REPUBLICANS WERE TO GO ON HUNGER STRIKE AS A WEAPON OF THE PRISON STRUGGLE,AS THEY FOUGHT ATTEMPTS TO CRIMINALISE THEM THE IRISH STRUGGLE. IRISH HUNGER STRIKERS FROM 1917 TO 1981 HAVE BECOME A SYMBOL,NOT ONLY AGAINST OPPRESSION, BUT ALSO OF HUMANITY AND OF THE DESIRE OF THE IRISH PEOPLE TO BE FREE….”THEY HAVE NOTHING IN THERE WHOLE IMPERIAL ARSENAL THAT CAN BREAK THE SPIRIT OF ONE IRISH MAN WHO DOES’NT WANT TO BE BROKEN”……..BOBBY SANDS MPRoger Casement
TODAY YOU’LL HAVE NOTICED MY FIRST 2 PIECES HAVE NOT BEEN ABOUT SIR ROGER-BUT ABOUT THE MEN LIKE ROGER WHO GAVE THERE LIVES FOR IRELAND.THESE MEN WERE DIFFERENT IN A WAY TO SIR ROGER- THEY STARVED THEMSELVES TO DEATH-EXCRUCIATING PAIN IT MUST HAVE BEEN-ALSO KNOWING THEY WERE GOING TO DIE AND ALSO HAVING TO WATCH YOUR FAMILY WATCH YOU GO THROUGH IT ALL. I SALUTE THESE BRAVE COMRADES,WHAT MORE COULD THEY GIVE THAN THERE LIVES FOR IRELAND. TIOCFAIDF ARLA…
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Dungiven Co. Derry
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| Join us for the 31st annual Hunger Strike Commemorative march and rally which takes place this year in Dungiven Co. Derry at 2PM. Main speaker Michelle O’Neill MLA. |
POSTED ON BEHALF OF : Public event · By National Hunger Strike Commemoration 2012
Go Bua, Blessed Are Those Who Hunger For Justice ! Remember The Men in Maghaberry !
“I was only a working-class boy from a Nationalist ghetto, but it is repression that creates the revolutionary spirit of freedom. I shall not settle until I achieve liberation of my country, until Ireland becomes a sovereign, independent socialist republic. ”
— Bobby Sands.
POSTED ON BEHALF OF : 
Rory Dubhdara.
Signed and Written By : Óglach Brendan Hughes
Privatisation and PPP Deals
With the ever increasing development of privatisation of inner city working class communities by property developers, what can we do to put the communities back into the hands of the residents?
ThroughoutIrelandmany families are going through a transition of privatisation and whose communities are being torn apart by unscrupulous property developers.
Private Public Partnership (PPP) deals seem to be all the rage at the moment between the local authorities (Council) and dodgy property developers. It is this arrangement between landlord and money grabbing capitalist that has left devastating consequences for many working class families throughout the Country
The thinking by the local authorities that privatisation through a PPP deal is the only solution for those who find themselves below the socio-economic ladder is a means to an end. If we scratch beneath the surface a little the real fact’s soon quickly fall into place.
Who Benefits from PPP Deals?
The beneficiary recipients of these PPP deals (the Council) means that they will get money straight into their hands while maintaining a trend to use it for their own spending priorities, working class communities excluded. The local authorities have pounced on this opportunity in an orchestrated manor and have latched on to the prospect of managing housing to create quite a considerable profit for themselves.
The demand for social housing has been steadily on the rise with over 50,000 people on the social housing list and with over 100,000 people on rental subsidy, the overall total amounts to 150,000 people in need of social housing. And as it stands, over 120,000 homes lie empty in 2,800 ‘ghost estates’ throughout the country with an overall total of 300,000 empty houses in the State that could quite easily be used to ameliorate the social housing crisis we now face.
But even through the turmoil of ‘ghost estates’ and the need for social housing, the Council has been selling off local authority land to private property developers while the housing crisis continues to escalate.
The property developers will also greatly benefit from these deals when they cut communities in half and takeaway prime land locations to make way for private property, while social exclusion forces many residents into tightly packed homes out of sight from the publics’ eye.
The Dilemma
The prospect of being promised new homes by private property developers has created a dilemma for many communities who are left with a choice either to, except new dwellings in a divided community as planned out by the developers or continue to live in substandard conditions carefully fabricated by the Council to displace people from valuable land.
These grim choices have left a devastating impact on local communities and has left the residents felling demoralised as deprivation and segregation in social housing continues to prevail.
The Conditions
What we have then is the Council purposely running down communities by not carrying out necessary maintenance such as mould, sewerage, heating, electrical, and vermin problems etc… Many residents find these conditions intolerable to live in and are forced to move out. This tactic of de-tenanting has been used time and time again by Council’s throughout the country and has created a dived in what where once strong united communities.
One such horrendous de-tenanting process happened onJanuary 11, 2010. When we witnessed the full capabilities of Dublin City Council as they used excessive force to try and forcibly remove a young mother living in Ballymun, Rachel Peavoy, out from her home by refusing to fix her heating during one ofIreland’s harshest winters in decades thus resulting in Rachel dying from hypothermia.
Thousands of structurally sound units remain derelict across the country, boarded up by steel partitions, while people in desperate need of a home find themselves sleeping on the streets. Many families find themselves in overcrowded conditions while the boarded up house next door to them with a much needed spare bedroom lies idle. And still communities remain ravaged by an influx of anti-social problems arising from deprivation and a poor quality of life.
International law
The local authorities inIrelandhave just about violated every aspect of housing rights chartered by the United Nations. It continues to defy international law and breech the declaration of human rights on the Right to Adequate Housing, Article 11, General Comment 4. This has been let go unhindered by theIrishStatewho has failed once again to protect the people in this country. What use is international law if those who systematically violate it face no repercussions for their reprisals?
What You Can Do?
If your community is going through or about to go through a regeneration process, here’s what you can do:
Build a task force or sub-group that is totally independent from the Council and the Redevelopment Group, to speak out on behalf of the residents in regards to area regeneration. This task force needs to be community-oriented, community-based and community led, and needs to be set up and put in place immediately, so that the entire resident’s will be represented by this group and the residents’ voices and concerns will not go unheard.
Lobby politicians and demand some clear answers, contact your local Councillor and demand some clear answers and ask what they are doing to safeguard tenants’ rights! Keep asking questions!
People need to join together and make a democratic decision and tell the local authorities what they want for their own area.
If there is ever to be any change for the neglected working class communities inIrelandpeople need to act fast and act now. We can no longer stay divided anymore and need to stand united by our communities.
How many more families will have to forcibly leave their homes before we act and take direct action against the poor living conditions manufactured by those who promise us ‘change’?
We have to start campaigning and demand adequate living conditions for all the neglected working class communities across the country. The empowerment of the communities is vital to the salvation and integrity of the residents who need to be involved with all decision-making processes in their own communities.
People need to get involved with local community projects and campaigns in their own areas and help out in any way possible. And at the same time should offer support and solidarity to other likeminded communities who are in the same predicament as their own.
People need to rally in behind and support the “Justice for Rachel Peavoy Campaign” and show our solidarity to her family and friends in their quest for a public inquiry into her death.
We all need to stand up against private property developers and tell them that our communities are not for sale. We have to show the local authorities in Ireland that we can stand united in our own communities and show them that we will never bow down to intimidation.
We need to demand an end to the negligence of all inner city communities across the country by the hands of the landlords and State and demand that no family should have to pay rent, especially while living in homes that have deteriorated into disrepair.
We need to push for the right for inner city communities, to the ownership of their homes and the right to adequate housing.
We need to demand that all landlords responsible for the wellbeing of its tenants to fully comply with the United Nations Article 11, General Comment 4, The Right to Adequate Housing.
We need to see a repeat of the actions by the Republican Congress who back in the day mobilised workers throughout the country through rent strikes and anti-eviction campaigns.
The Republican Network for Unity advocates adequate and decent housing for all Irish citizens and an end to the privatisation by property developers of working class communities through PPP deals.
It’s time to break the connection from social exclusion and demand that all local authorities respect our economic and civil rights!
Statement Ends.
seachranaidhe1 
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