The Irish Government incurred $369,504.5 of debt for every Irishchild, Irishwoman and Irishman to fix its Banking fraud. Which makes you, if your Irish and everybody in Ireland a slave to the fraudsters or banks for the at least the next 50 years. Better get busy!
In his statement to the Irish parliament today, the Minister of Finance said, that winding-up Ireland's collapsed bank was not an option. He is a liar there are several other viable options. Based on figures from Anglo Irish Bank and the Department of Finance, Mr Lenihan said shutting it down could run up a bill for the Irish taxpayer, in a country of just 4 million people, anywhere from €60bn to €100bn.
He said a prompt wind-up would be followed by a fire-sale of assets with an “unnecessary loss” of €30bn and cash bills of €70bn euro to meet the cost of deposits, bondholders and the liabilities due to commitments across Europe. Mr Lenihan also vehemently rejected calls for a long-term wind-down insisting it was not in the taxpayers’ interests and would cost €60 billion to €30 billion losses from the sale of assets followed by a €30bn bill to complete the shutdown.
“Finding a long-term solution for Anglo Irish Bank is by far the biggest challenge in resolving the banking crisis. The sheer size of the bank means there are no easy or low-cost options. Winding-up the bank is not and was never a viable option. I understand why many want us to close this bank. I understand the impulse to obliterate it from the system.
But I cannot, as Minister for Finance, countenance such a course of action. The realisation of the costs involved and the wider disruption to the financial system would generate enormous instability for the State with unforeseeable but potentially long-lasting damage to the overall economy. The unavoidable reality is that the bank has incurred losses from its large-scale property lending and needs substantial further capital. Unpalatable as it is, only the taxpayer can provide that capital. It is the least worst option.”
Mr Lenihan warned of significant uncertainties over estimates and that €10bn is needed for re-capitalisation. Ireland's bad-bank National Assets Management Agency will take €10bn euro loans from Anglo this month paying 50% of book value. The minister also revealed that that they were trying to sell the bank as a going concern when the Irish taxpayers clear the bad assets within a target date of five to seven years.
“This is a complex process but I am confident that by the end of the summer we will have a clear plan for the future of the bank approved by the European Commission,” he said.
The scheme is a fraud to fix a previous fraud. All the main parties including Gerry Adam's compliant collaboration party with the exception of Labour are part of the lie of no alternative. Instead of pouring billions of euros into maintaining the rich and preventing the levelling of them all for gambling at high odds in unregulated derivative private funds, they should be allowed collapse and then the State should buy up their assets at rock bottom prices. With all those empty houses, there would be no one left homeless.
The huge money wasted on saving the banks could be invested instead, in publicly owned, worker run facilities, to develop renewable energy along the west coast of Ireland. It could invested in green energy, waste recycling and organic farming. It could pay the unemployed to rebuild the Irish rail and water goods distribution systems. It could create an industrial base on our core competencies.
The body politic in Ireland has enslaved itself to the ideology of the unregulated market, a false god demanding obedience to edicts of privatisation, cutbacks, taxation of the poor and people of no property but non interfering with the rich or their political cronies, compliant in this instance to a mounting catastrophy. It is time Irish people woke up and got up off their sheepish Catholic knees!
Protesters outside the principal Catholic church in Britain today called for the Pope's resignation over the Church's sex abuse. They carried placards saying, Sex Abuse Cover Up - Pope Must Resign' , 'Pope Protects Paedophile Priests. Demonstrators confronted the congregation of Catholics, as they left Westminster Cathedral. They claim that Pope Benedict XVI was involved in hiding priests accused of child rape and sex abuse from prosecution.
Many object to the pontiff's planned state visit to Britain in September, while Catholics fear he will be shot or assassinated because of the depth of the anger. Human rights activist Peter Tatchell was among the demonstrators. He said that the Pope 'bears personal responsibility for the cover up'.
Catholics now fear many people will protest when the Pope arrives for a state visit in September. The Archbishop of Westminster, yesterday said in a defiant response: 'The Pope won't resign".
The Pontiff's Sunday address today was the beginning of Holy Week, the Roman Catholic's Church's special seven days which culminate with Easter Sunday. In preaching today, he spoke of how man can sometimes 'fall to the lowest, vulgar levels' and 'sink into the swamp of sin and dishonesty', which people say is a bit rich coming from someone involved in cover up of child rape.
In the last few days the Pope has himself been accused in the scandals, with claims that he knew about Father Lawrence Murphy, an American paedophile priest, along with a German, Father Peter Hullerman. Both cases the Vatican has denied cover ups, despite considerable evidence against the Pontiff. The Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano says, the abuse allegations were part of an 'ignoble attempt to strike at Pope Benedict XVI and his closest collaborators at any cost'.
It is reported in Rome tonight, that the Pope may force the head of the Irish Catholic Church, Cardinal Sean Brady, to resign. The Cardinal refused to resign, saying only the Pope can tell him to go, after revelations that he presided over a ceremony in which he forced Irish children who were raped, swear a code of silence (known in Rome as - Omerta) after a formal Church investigation. Pope Benedict will demand the Head of the Church in Ireland step down, over his role in the Catholic Church tribunal on a rape of teenage boy by Fr Brendan Smyth.
The extent of rampant child rape in Ireland has left Irish church goers stunned, amid renewed expectations, that other heads are set to roll. Vatican insiders are whispering, that a tough Australian prelate will head a probe into the Irish Church, because no one in the Irish Church can be trusted. The investigation is expected to start next month. An expected outcome of an Apostolic Visitation which Pope Benedict announced last Saturday, is that Cardinal George Pell an Australian will propose Cardinal Brady's removal.
Leading officials, politicians and newspaper editors in Israel, have
reacted angrily to the British government's announcement to expel the
head of Mossad in London, in response to Israeli arrogance and theft
of British passports, for use in the Dubai murder of Palestinian
Freedom Fighter Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
"I think the British are behaving hypocritically and I don't want to
offend dogs on this issue, since some dogs are utterly loyal," Aryeh
Eldad said, "Who are they to judge us on the war on terror?"
He added that Israel's "natural reaction should be to expel one of the
senior diplomats in the British Embassy, maybe the military attache or
someone on his level."
Eldad's political colleague from the same party, Michael Ben-Ari,
responded to the comment, saying, "The British may be dogs, but they
are not loyal to us, but rather to an anti-Semitic system, and Israeli
diplomacy partially plays into their hands. This is anti-Semitism
disguised as anti-Zionism".
One of Israel's leading newspapers complained, that the British
government’s lost moral compass, also explains its dire voting record
on the Goldstone Report which found Israel guilty of War Crimes
against the Palestinians. It further complained of Britain's abiding
failure to stop the use of its legal system for the purpose of
arresting Israeli politicians and military officers for War Crimes,
should they dare to set foot on British soil ever again. It further
complains of delays by Britain in following Israeli instructions to
amendits legal system back in December, after a London court issued a
warrant for the arrest of leader Tzipi Livni. The Livni affair was
preceded by the attempted arrest in 2005 of General Doron Almog,
former commander of Israeli forces in Gaza, and by the cancellation of
a trip to Britain by former Israeli chief of General Staff, Moshe
Ya’alon. The newspaper says the British move against Israel, was
coordinated with other countries, Germany, France, Ireland and
possibly Australia and may be the start of more similar action in the
future.
The Israeli's accept that it is a blow to their own arrogance at all
levels. Israel broke a promise given by Shimon Peres to Geoffrey Howe
in 1987, that British passports would not be used again for Israeli
intelligence operations or murders. William Hague, the foreign
secretary of the conservatives' shadow government who may replace
Miliband shortly, is the one who reminded parliament about the broken
Israeli promise to Britain.
The breach of trust alongside the normally close intimate,
intelligence cooperation, between Israel and Britain fanned British
anger at Israel, for the theft of British passports for a murder
committed in Dubai. Israel in so doing incriminated and exposed
Britain as its silent compliant partner in a lot of its activities,
dating back to the foundation of the state of Israel by Britain before
it was forced to withdraw.
The Israeli newspaper added that a British agent using an Israeli
passport to track down an IRA cell would not meet with much Israeli
sympathy, a subtle reminder of the help Mossad provided the British,
tracking down an IRA cell to Gibraltar, in which Maireid Farrell,
Daniel McCann and Sean Savage, Irish freedom fighters were summarily
murdered by the British, thus preventing further disclosure, after
being tracked there by Mossad. The massive theft of other countries
passports is a colossal breach of sovereignty, as it affects the
relationships and treatment of citizens travelling and working in
those countries, particularly the Middle-East. Dubai will no doubt pay
particular attention to British commoners in the future, as a result
of this particular Israeli activity. Irish people for example have
always been made most welcome in the Middle east, now as a result of
Israeli abuse of their Irish passports, they suddenly become suspect,
naturally all of the countries affected are very angry at perceived
Israeli arrogance and criminality in addition to its recent War Crimes
in Gaza.
The Israeli media claim the affair, offers a glimpse of the British
decision-making process and exposes the failures of Israel in the
murder.The incident shows that the British Secret Intelligence
Service, SIS or MI6, is answerable to the foreign secretary and
coordinates with him or his top deputies, operations that may affect
foreign affairs. MI5 on the other hand they claim answers to the home
secretary like the police. The prime minister has overall
responsibility with his office helping to coordinate intelligence.
That is the theory, the reality is that the politicos nominally answer
to the services and rubber stamp activities. As a result, were an
operation bungled in an MI6 operation, the foreign secretary would
resign or the home secretary, if there were a problem at MI5.
The government of Israel is hesitant to push Agent Dagan to resign, as
it would seem like an admission of Mossad's involvement in Mabhouh's
murder. The Israeli minister in charge of intelligence affairs, Dan
Meridor, is not held in high esteem in Israel. The opposition party
in Government however, is former Mossad agent Tzipi Livni, now the
head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Overall
responsibility lies with Netanyahu, who obviously did not check things
properly, nor weigh the risks and rewards, and eroded Israel's
diplomatic poor standing around the world even further, as result of
Israel's criminal activity in the theft of several western countries
passports and subsequent murder in Dubai, which was filmed in detail
from the outset.
Mossad offices in London, which normally works openly with British
agents in occupied Ireland for example, has been dealt a body blow to
its mission there, with the unwanted publicity and the head of the
mission expelled. Israeli media say Mossad control at Ben-Gurion
International Airport is infamous and the stigma of this bungled
covert operation, will have a ripple effect. Mossad head to be
expelled Dagan's predecessor, Ephraim Halevy, was actually born in
London.
The person who will be ultimately held responsible for this failure,
appears already to be the Israeli prime minister. The Israeli media
complain however, that Netanyahu never took responsibility and will
not likely do so now, neither is he facing an upcoming election like
Britain, where a perception of being friendlier to Israel, than
British intellectuals and journalists wish to see, post Gaza War
Crimes, as manifested with academic boycotts of Israel and planned
arrests of senior Israeli officials entering Britain. Should the
British government fail to respond to Mossad's criminal activity, it
could expect attacks in parliament and a backlash at the polls.The
Israeli's believe that it is the current British domestic political
environment, that has effected the move. It remains to be seen how
other European countries, Australia and Ireland react, to their
citizens considerable anger, at this Israeli behaviour post UN
International War Crimes guilty verdict against Israel.
The Borgias or Borjas were a noble family who were prominent during
the Renaissance. They are remembered for their corrupt rule when one
of them was a Pope. The Borgias have been accused of many crimes on
considerable evidence, including child rape, abuse, adultery, theft,
bribery, incest, and particularly murder by poison.
Pope Alexander VI born on the 1 January 1431, died on the 18 August
1503, was Pope from 1492 to 1503. He is one of the more controversial
of the popes and his surname, Italian Borgia, became descriptive of
corrupt standards of the papacy. Many commentators today say that for
the last 500 years the Catholic Church has consistently followed the
Borgia tradition in private.
Today as accusations of historic sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, in
the current Pope's former diocese and by other catholic clergy, emerge
in European country after country, the Vatican still insist, that
the's former deputy, Gerhard Gruber, has taken the 'rap' ethically,
for allowing a priest in the pope's former diocese who was a child
rapist, remain within the Church, saying this it had been simply "a
bad mistake," deflecting responsibility from the Pope.
The original report in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, the former
diocese of the Pope of Munich and Freising, stated that
then-Archbishop Ratzinger had let the priest, stay at a vicarage in
Munich for "therapy" after he had raped an 11-year-old boy in the city
of Essen.
In 1986, the priest was given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and
a fine for sexually abusing minors, details of which were covered up
by the diocese. The Pope's former deputy, Gerhard Gruber, has taken
responsibility for initially allowing it adding that there were over
1,000 priests in the diocese and that the Pope "could not deal with
everything".
The Vatican has admitted under pressure that since 2001, about 3,000
accusations of abuse by priests of children were received by Vatican
officials. They involve diocesan and religious priests in acts
committed over the last 50 years.A spokesperson said,"We can say that
about 60% of the cases chiefly involved sexual attraction towards
adolescents of the same sex, another 30% involved heterosexual
relations, the remaining 10% were cases of paedophilia in the true
sense of the word that is, based on sexual attraction towards
prepubescent children.
He said 60% of the cases had not come to trial, because of advanced
age but they faced "disciplinary provisions". "It's true that there
has been no formal condemnation, it must be made absolutely clear that
in these cases, some of which are particularly sensational and have
caught the attention of the media, no absolution has taken place."
However since the statement was made, Pope Benedict XVI's former
diocese in Germany is now facing fresh daily allegations of physical
and sexual child abuse. The head of the Church's new sex-abuse task
force, Elke Huemmeler told the Associated Press news agency, "It is
like a tsunami," she said about 120 cases had come to light so far in
Munich, about 100 of them at a a boarding school run by monks.
This coincides with Roman Catholic Church being rocked by scandals
involving priests in other parts of Germany, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, Ireland and Austria. The Pope has written a pastoral
letter to be read to Catholics of Ireland tomorrow, where five bishops
have already resigned, with fresh accusations against another Bishop
and revelations with proof of children being sworn to secrecy by
Ireland's top prelate, Cardinal O'Brady, who's resignation is demanded
by Irish leaders. The Cardinal refuses to go saying, the Pope is the
only one who can tell him to go.
Meanwhile Ireland's best known strictly Catholic politician, who
covered up abuse by his brother of his daughter, whom he believes
guilty over 22 years ago and who went on to work is several youth
clubs, also refuses to resign. It is not clear however in his
instance, if an order from the Pope will force him to resign.
Observers have never seen a more serious crisis affecting the
credibility and leadership of the world's longest surviving
international organisation, the Roman Catholic Church before, not even
during the Borgia era, five centuries ago.
The BBC who made a period historical series on the Borgias, which can
be viewed by following a series of fifty videos, which are part of the
presentation above, detailing the background of this current Borgia
Roman Catholic Church behaviour. Many Irish republican's say that the
BBC should also make a similarly honest series on the Roman Empire's
successor the British Empire's Monarchy but that is unlikely, as the
BBC world service itself, was created by a Royal British order for
propaganda purposes. David Willey of the BBC in Rome says that a
taboo has now been broken and the Vatican is now forced to take a much
harder line than in the past. The first public document published by
the Vatican on this explosive subject which is to be read at all
masses in Ireland tomorrow, is of worldwide interest in what the Pope
is going to say.
The more than 30,000 known victims in Ireland to date, still have not
received an apology from the Pope. Victims of clerical sexual abuse in
Ireland argue, that they want a full-scale apology from the Pope, in
addition to compensation. They also say bishops should always notify
the local police first, not the Vatican, when cases of sexual rape and
abuse by clergy are reported to them. However Gerry Adams has told
Irish catholics not to report these type of crimes to the occupying
British police, as they use them for their own political purposes.
Traditional republicans claim that the occupying British manipulate
this often incestuous crime with various forms of blackmail. Adams
courageously admitted his own father was also a child abuser but has
failed to take responsibility and resign or make restitution with a
sincere apology. This crime also leaves politicians vulnerable to
political compromise and in the Adams instance, the British police
simply sat on prime facie evidence of the crime without prosecuting.
The years of secrecy and cover up in the Adams instance, a devout
Catholic who is also President of the former republican party, that
negotiated a deal with British raises questions and speculation.
Traditional Irish republicans are up in arms about the whole affair,
which they say brings their movement into disrepute and leaves the
most vulnerable part of Irish society, children, vulnerable to further
exploitation not just by the occupying British monarchy but by the
Prelates of Rome and their Irish minnions. Traditional Irish
republicans who oppose privilege of any kind, like the original
republicans of the French revolution, have been told by the Catholic
Church Prelates, they will be excommunicated and rot in hell, to which
Irish republicans have always replied is preferable, to fraternizing
with the corrupt and criminal of Prelates of the former Roman Empire
and the Princes of its successor the present British Empire still
occupying Ireland with brute force.
Unfortunately for the next generation of Irish children, they can but
look forward, to further abuse and bloodshed, both at the hands of the
occupying British forces and the Corrupt Catholic gombeens, who
administer society as a protected species, while serving their masters
interests in Ireland. The extent of the corruption in Ireland is borne
out recently, not just by the resignations of five bishops and the
demands for the resignation of their top Cardinal but the recent
resignation of an Irish Prime minister, arrest of their top banker and
leading politicians, despite a British controlled media, protecting
their compliant corrupt Catholic officials on John Bull's other
island.
Meanwhile Adams carries on regardless, oblivious to the demands of
resignation in denial of the seriousness of child rape, denial of the
responsibility of leadership and a horrific example to the numerous
pedophiles in denial about the depravity of this crime. He would do
well to remember the adage, "Not the cry but the flight of the wild
duck leads the flock to fly and to follow."
– Chinese Proverb
Irish-Americans attending the St Patrick's Day parades yesterday were
extremely angry at Israeli Prime minister, Mr Netanyahu's
brother-in-law, who yesterday called American President Obama,
'anti-Semitic. The Irish themselves have also recently been accused of
being anti-semitic, as a result of their work with the UN in the
occupied Palestinian territories, where recently 1,500 citizens were
murdered by Israeli war planes attacking unprotected civilian areas. A
third of the victims were innocent children. Irish republicans as
result of brutal British occupation, understand the suffering caused
by occupation of invaders and are part of a rising tide of Irish
feelings against Israeli War Crimes.
Mr Ben-Artzi said his brother-in-law Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu should learn from previous Prime Ministers.
Mr Ben-Artzi was responding to US State Department criticism of
Israeli approval to build 1,600 new homes in Palestinian East
Jerusalem. Hillary Clinton stood up to the bullying of the US by
Israel and Mr Obama said the decision had not been helpful to the
peace process.On Sunday, an assistant of Mr Obama called Israel's
announcement "calculated", "destructive" to peace efforts and an
"insult" to the US. The Palestinians had just agreed to hold indirect
"proximity talks" to revive the peace process, which was stalled.
In an interview with Israel Army Radio, Mr Ben-Artzi said his
brother-in-law should learn from previous Israeli prime ministers.
"Once the Americans tried to intervene in anything related to
Jerusalem we told them one simple word: 'No'," he said.
"As a politician running for presidency he had to hide it, but it
comes out every time and I think we just have to say it plainly -
there is an anti-Semitic president in America Hagai Ben-Artzi."
"Mr Obama, not only disliked Mr Netanyahu personally, but dislikes the
people of Israel. For 20 years, Obama sat with Reverend Jeremiah
Wright, who is anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli, and anti-Jewish. It was
clear Mr Obama agreed with Rev Wright because he had remained a member
of his congregation.Think about it. If you had heard of someone who
for 20 years sat in church and heard anti-Semitic sermons and didn't
get up to leave after two weeks, wouldn't you think he identifies with
it?" he asked.
"As a politician running for the presidency, he had to hide it, but it
comes out every time and I think we just have to say it plainly, there
is an anti-Semitic President in America. Unfortunately this creates a
difficult situation for Israel, but we will never give up our deepest
interests, Jerusalem and our ties with it."
The Palestinian Authority refused to resume direct talks with Israel,
because of Israel's refusal, to stop the expansion of settlements in
the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel had announced previously a
10-month suspension of new building in the West Bank, under heavy US
pressure from Hillary Clinton. It now considers the Palestinian east
Jerusalem municipality, as its territory and thus not subject to
restricting Israeli expansion there.
Half a million Jews live in more than 100 settlements built after
Israel's 1967 war and occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and East
Jerusalem. They are illegal under international law and with the UN.
Israel disputes the right of the UN or International Law and the UN's
Goldstone report which has found Israel guilty of war crimes against
the Palestinians. International observers are confused because these
laws were initially set up to protect Jews who themselves like the
Palestinians now, suffer as a result of War Crimes.
Irish peace keepers working for the UN who were part of the
investigation that found Israel guilty of War Crimes, are also accused
of being"Anti-Semitic" and the Irish Foreign minister was refused
permission to see for himself the results of Israel's war crimes.
Irish people are also angry at the theft of their passports, in the
recent assassination of a Palestinian Freedom Fighter in Dubai, which
affects the warm welcome Irish travelers always received in the
Middle-East.
It is childish to assume that Jeremiah Wright was referring to Israel as a "dirty word." In the only tape I have found above, that could possibly be construed as anti-semitic. It does not mean that he's insulting Israel. The context in this age of soundbite, is something the political pundits with an agenda, seem to care little about. The speech makes it clear, that mentioning Israel is a loaded issue. It even seems that Wright may be supporting Palestinians in the conflict. But that does NOT make him anti-semite, no more than Barrack Obama or the Irish people are anti-semite.
Oh Little Boy Black and Blue,
Who was it that did this to you?
Who raised a hand at innocence?
Did they proclaim their eminence-
At a child's expense?
Is this your beloved mother's psalm,
This stormy song beneath your calm?
The one who nourished you from birth.
Were you more trouble then you were worth?
Oh was it her who did this to you,
Little Boy Black and Blue?
Was it your father, that loving soul?
Did the alcohol cause him to lose control?
Was his patience tried and taunted-
By the boy he never wanted?
Oh was it him that did this to you,
Little Boy Black and Blue?
Oh Little Boy Black and Blue,
The autopsy confirms it was true.
You were sodomized and strangled.
You were beaten, broken, mangled.
You must've screamed in agony,
As bloodstained hands brought you more misery.
Oh was it someone you never even knew,
Little Boy Black and Blue?
Recent reports in the British/Irish media, have revealed that Saint Paddy is not actually Irish, a new document proves, he was in
fact of English stock, who was born in 387, in south-western England,
in Somerset, near the village of Banwell, five miles east of
Weston-super-Mare in a Roman settlement in the area. He worked as a
barsteward serving drink to decadent Roman Cathoholics in an area that
was highly Romanized, as was his family's Dikkus estate in 387.
Below is an extract from the recently excavated ancient script;
'The Righteouf Fquire Dikkus of Banwell there is an interesting
account of a local centurion who sold drink to outsiders who frequented
the villa. Squire Dikkus was known, somewhat affectionately in the villa
of Biggus Dikkus as the 'jug-earede counte', or the 'fatte baftard of
Western Super-Mare'. He had something of a reputation for sending outsiders back to Roman
held territory in France, where anyone with black hair would be put to
death with red hot pokers. This passage here is quite explicit...
"'Ye outfidere folk cried do not put upon uf ye red hot pokerf of
Biggus Dikkus, which scorch and blifter our anufef. But ye jug-eared counte, Fquire
Dikkus hearde non of it and even ignoring hif own adviferf of ye
Foreign Hall of the Roman Catholic Council, did fend all ye outfideref back to
have ye red hot pokerf thruft up their anufef. And all ye while ye ferrety
young English baftard Patricus did laff hif goolief off'."
As the document proves, he was in fact an English agent, as in his
name Pa-trick-us, his father's name being Biggus Dikkus(see link for details) who was a centurion and his mother's name was Incontinentia
which would make his full name Pa-trick-us Dikkus. His parents were
very good to him, until he was kidnapped by a monster from Ireland,
named Niall of the Nine Hostages, who sold him into slavery feeding
pigs, not to be confused with the gardai(see link) or british police
but real Irish pigs. He ended up living with a farmer in the north of
Ireland named Milchu, who treated him like crap. Patrick survived by
eating the food left out for the pigs, it was very tasty after he got
used to it.
Then he had visions after eating magic mushrooms that were mixed up in
the pig will. The Blessed Virgin the holy mother of god came in a
vision to him and revealed herself in a very intimate way and they had
intercourse. Yes, I know what you are thinking but he was still young
and had not yet acquired any dirty English habits. Anyway after he
finished banging Mary, he heard the word of god.The voice told him to
phuck off back to England and escape, something he strangely never
thought about previously.
To cut a long story short, he got to England became a religious freak
and returned to Ireland to brainfilth dacent Irish pagans into
becoming born again virgin christian barstewards like himself and
learn the glory of god, or else. He is supposed to have cast all the
snakes out of Ireland but as anyone vaguely familiar with child sex
abuse in Ireland, Gerry Adams or Martin McGuinness would know, this is
simply not true. He died on the 17th of March 493 and was buried in
Downpatrick which was thus named, after he was buried 6 feet under and
a local orangeman who attended the funeral was heard to shout,"go down
you phucker." Patrick after he died went on to become a saint with
powers to invent parades, in his own honour, the envy of orangemen the
length and breadth of Ulster.
Paddy's favourite pastimes were playing the bronze whistle, riding
sheep or basically anything that moved, saying his prayers and
preaching. His last words were, go forth and multiply as have the 4
million Irish catholics already, who have now become more than 40
million Irish Americans by remembering his teachings, that every sperm is sacred(see link) and not to pick up any dirty British habits like
hand shandies.
However some more recent revelations, stating that Jaysus used
cannabis in British/Irish tabloids have put St. Paddy's teachings in
doubt and has come as a major shock to the general Christian public.
It is no surprise however to those working for the Israeli government
agencies, that came into contact with the born again virgin's pin-up,
when he was growing up as a youngster in Palestine.
"It's all in the files," one two-faced Mossad officer who'd clearly
seen it all before, told us. "Like a lot of young Palestinian lads, he
would have started off just having the odd toke himself. He had family
problems, you see. His mother had a history of bad dysfunctional
relationships, like her sister Magdalene who was intimate with Jaysus,
he always felt his dad had deserted him, in fact he wasn't sure who
was his real dad, it might have been the other saints, Gerry Adams or
Martin McGuinness."
According to a recently released Israeli social services report,
Jewish investigators were concerned that the child may have been
mistreated from his very outset. "The baby was inadequately cared
for," reads one report. Just days after his birth. "He was put in a
stable manger for feeding cows and people have never seen such a poor
job of swaddling in my life." The child Jaysus was also housed in a
shed with no running water, or electricity because of the Israeli
blockade at the time, on all new male babies by the Zionist
authorities. "Fortunately, a star or a UFO illuminated the room, but
apart from that, creature comforts were a no no, similar to Gaza now,
without electricity or food."
A damaged childhood, because of the Israeli occupation, led to Jaysus
taking up cannabis. But, as the Israeli intelligence officer explains,
this was only the beginning. "Before too long he was starting to sell
it to other kids in Bethlehem. Jonny, Pete, Lukey, Matty...all went on
to become crack addicts and were always throwing stones at the
occupiers, the list goes on." And while stoned on these other wordly
drugs, Jaysus was reported to have frequently slipped into a psychotic
trance, convincing himself and his friends that he could perform
so-called miracles, and that he was God.
Although Israeli police In Bethlehem, instituted several prosecutions
of the notorious hairy lefty at the time, local Palestinian juries
famously refused to convict, when the guy who claimed to be Son of God
insisted, he was using the drug "for medicinal purposes". However, it
is thought that the full-strength cannabis, of the time may, have
rotted his brain and led to his early death at the age of 33 while
listening to Bob Marley.
Irish politicians themselves who are also born again virgins, have
reacted angrily to the news and introduced a blasphemy law to censor
any more revelations about Jaysus or Gerry Adams, who is also being
accused of originally being a barsteward who served drink to the
Brits, while keeping an eye on his brother, responded saying. "I'm
angry as usual. I don't care who this guy is, or was, or who people
say he is, or was. Drugs destroy communities and I speak to God on a
daily basis, even if this guy thinks he is the Son of God, I agreed
with Saint Martin and my brother to advocating zero tolerance of the
stuff. If any of my men find him, he'll be going down for a long, long
time." A reporter from the London Times applauded loudly.
On the matter of Gerry Adam's refusal to resign like his Bishop
colleagues in Ireland over paedophile cover up, one fervent Irish
public health official who we didn't actually
contact us but who insisted on coming to our offices and shouting
loudly through the letterbox confirmed, that smoking-related diseases
will in future be treated at the smoker's own expense in Ireland. That
sounds fair enough to us, why should the non-smokers pay? After all,
do smokers pay extra tax to inflict their filthy habit on the rest of
us? No.
Ask yourself this: Do paedophiles in West Belfast get free board and lodging and
psychiatric treatment at our expense? No they bloody well don't, as
far as we know but then Gery and his brother spent a lot of time up in
Clonard monastery. Making nicotene addicts stump up in cash, in
advance, for cancer treatment is exactly the sort of hands-on, direct
action we like in Ireland in absence of any accountability from
elected Catholic officials on child abuse. We have to be seen to do
something and set an example like Gerry and the peacemakers do.
So while we're on about it, let's extend this punitive plan to fat
barstewards like St Paddy,
would be a good start. We know the obese ministers in the Irish
government deliberately stuff themselves with drink, crisps, chips,
chocolate and oven-ready microwaveable pizzas so that they can get
themselves a fast-track, heart-attack driven passport to intensive
care easy street. Let the fat barsteards pay for their own coronary
bypasses.
Obesity causes huge health problems and costs tasty-looking thin women
like MsVaseline a fortune in medical insurance. Why don't some of you
fat, ugly born again virgins stop filling your faces with fish suppers
and get some bloody exercise? Or try walking the kids to school
instead of driving them there in your smelly, diesel MPVs? Better
still, jog to school and smoke a couple of jointss on the way. That
should shed a few pounds.
On the other hand, we are told that parading, can cause knee and ankle
problems, so it seems only fair that conscientious orange parade
pounders should pay for any knee and foot repairs themselves.It's also
criminally irresponsible to allow monsters like Winston Churchill to
appear in Martin McGuinness's curriculum of school books, in occupied
Ireland. Not only did he chain-smoke obscenely large cigars, he drank
huge amounts of alcohol, was grossly overweight, and never exercised.
And McGuinness wanted to call this a national hero? Is this or the
alleged child abuse enabler Adams, any kind of example to be setting
Irish kids? No, it isn't, so it's out with the airbrush for Winnie and
enter health-conscious Aryan Catholic Adolf Hitler.
They can think of no better example of responsible and considerate
behaviour than the slim, non-smoking, teetotal vegetarian Catholic
with his legendary love of animals like St Francis. His personal
habits an example to us all and his life a reminder of what a truly
healthy Catholic lifestyle can achieve. Remember: Adolf Hitler didn't
smoke either tobacco or cannabis, was a devout Catholic like Adams and
McGuinness and loved children.
But perhaps the worst example of St Paddy inspired, inconsiderate,
self-destructive behaviour that threatens the health of the Irish
nation, is the increasing number of middle-aged politicians, suffering
heart attacks, during the monthly execution of their conjugal rights
in the missionary position. This must be looked at urgently. If it's
not distasteful enough the idea of lard-arsed proto-wrinklies
politicos, poking each other's shrivelled remains, think about the
poor paramedics who have to clear up the mess. Once again, it's the
commoners of occupied Ireland and the citizens of the free state, who
foot the bill with hefty health insurance premiums.
Sunbathing is another activity which cannot be allowed to continue,
the skin cancer risk to fair Celtic skin, is simply too great. The
list goes on, but to summarise, just imagine this: a middle-aged fat
barsteward enjoying a drunken post-coital cigar whilst skiing naked
down a sun-kissed piste en route to a tour of the lard factory. Had
enough? Me too it makes our blood boil.
Implementing such sweeping improvements in the health of our citizens
and commoners in occupied Ireland, excluding the children of West
Belfast of course, might run into some resistance, but we are
confident that just as the appointment of a drugs "czar" several
years back combined with a bit of knee capping, has practically wiped
out the use of illegal substances for a week or two, persuading the
Irish nation to voluntarily give up parading, smoking, eating,
drinking, skiing, sunbathing and sex should not prove insurmountable.
Especially when backed by legislation, fines, imprisonment and knee
capping.
So you see we have a lot to thank Saint Paddy, Adams and McGuinness
for, despite the claims of these other traditional Irish republicans,
that St Paddy's religion, the English and drink are the three curses
of Ireland. So, come Paddy's day, go out and parade, go to Mass, get
drunk and vote early and often for Adams and the peacemaker party.
Irish people were last night celebrating Hillary Clinton's sharp
criticism of Israel. Ireland and Israel have been for some recent time
engaged in a diplomatic war of words on Israel's war crimes
against Gaza and subsequent outrageous statements by Israel, against
Irish UN personnel, blocking the Irish Foreign minister entering Gaza,
blocking Irish humanitarian aid for Gaza, attacking Irish personnel
working for the UN and stealing Irish passports to assassinate a
Palestinian freedom fighter in Dubai.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has shown once again,
considerably more courage than any of her male colleagues in the
American administration, by standing up to Israel on several occasions
who have been dictating US policy in the middle-east for several
decades now. She has sharply rebuked Israel, over its recent decision
to build new settlements in East Jerusalem.
She told Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, that the move was "deeply
negative" for US-Israeli relations. It was a rare and sharp rebuke
from Washington. Israel's aggressive expansion announcement came at
the start of a visit by US Vice-President Joe Biden to restart peace
talks. To many neutral observers like the Irish, it was a move by
Israel, calculated and guaranteed to prevent peace talks, as the Israel has clearly
demonstrated for some time, it is not interested in Middle-east peace.
Since the announcement the Palestinians who had already made several
concessions, to enable peace talks, have now indicated they will not
return to the negotiating table, unless the Israeli decision to expand
into Palestinian East Jerusalem is revoked. Israeli policy of eternal war guarantees it believes unending financial support from the US.
Hillary Clinton delivered her rebuke during a 43-minute telephone
conversation with Mr Netanyahu, the US state department said. US state
department spokesperson PJ Crowley said, Mrs Clinton spoke "to make
clear that the United States considered the announcement to be a
deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral
relationship and contrary to the spirit of the vice-president's trip".
Hillary Clinton has again called on Israel to show some commitment to
the peace process
"The secretary said she could not understand how this happened,
particularly in light of the United States's strong commitment to
Israel's security," he added.
"She made clear that the Israeli government needed to demonstrate not
just through words but through specific actions that they are
committed to this relationship and to the peace process."
The Quartet for Middle East peace mediators, the US, Russia, the EU
and UN, have also condemned the Israeli housing expansion announcement
and said it will review the situation at a ministerial meeting on the
19th March in Moscow.
Mr Netanyahu who earlier apologised for the timing of the settlement
announcement, which was made just as Mr Biden was holding a day of talks in
Jerusalem. He said he had summoned Interior Minister Eli Yishai to
reprimand him. Israeli and Palestinian leaders had just agreed to hold
indirect, "proximity talks" in an effort to restart talks on peace,
when Israel's announcement deliberately sabotaged peace once again.
After the announcement, the Palestinian Authority said talks would be
"very difficult" if plans for Jerusalem expansion were not rescinded.
Close to half a million Jews live in over a 100 settlements built in
occupied lands, since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and
East Jerusalem. They are illegal under international law, which Israel
ignores. Until Clinton's appointment, the US has supported
Israel unconditionally, with weapons and huge financial US taxpayer's
aid. It is believed by most seasoned international observers, that
Israel ordered the US and Britain into the Iraq invasion and has also
given orders to the US to invade Iran in the coming months.
Prior to Hillary Clinton's appointment as US secretary of state, most
objective Irish observers have referred to this anomaly, as the
Israeli tail wagging the US dog. Clinton is starting to demonstrate
the type of courage, that several Irish female activists who have been
murdered as result of Israel's activities, themselves demonstrated.
Maireid Farrell who was tracked for a considerable time by Israeli secret
agents to Gibratar, was murdered along with two colleagues some years
ago. Rachel Corry a young Irish American peace activist, protesting
the Israeli destruction of Palestinian homes, was murdered by the
Israeli's, who heartlessly drove their bulldozers over young body.
Clinton is starting to demonstrate the same courage, in standing up to
the bullying of the Israelis, that has been clearly absent with her
male colleagues in the American administration for decades now, who are
afraid of the Zionist lobby which originated in Britain and has
dictated both countries foreign policy, even in Ireland, with a
shoot-to-kill policy adopted by MI-5 who are now in charge of policing
in John Bull's other island.
People in occupied Ireland empathize with the injustices of the long
suffering, occupied, Palestinians, because they have also experienced
brutal invasion and rape of their territory. Irish people have
observed in horror for decades now, Israel's flagrant disregard for
international law or the UN and are sickened watching daily in the
media, for more than fifty years now, Israeli war crimes, that they
themselves suffered with Hitler. Women and children are the most
vulnerable and bear the brunt of the suffering inflicted by the
invader's war crimes.
Clinton in a rare glimpse of hope and courage, from another American
administration, otherwise demonstrating the familiar characteristics
of impotent eunuchs, who have traditionally performed a wide variety
of functions in many traditional cultures, such as: courtiers or
equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists,
government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or
harem servants, dating back the Sumerian city of Lagash, in the twenty
first century BC, the earliest known civilization in the world,which
is known as the Cradle of Civilization by Irish ancestors.
Hillary Clinton and the US state department yesterday castigated censorship worldwide, as an attack on basic human rights, unfortunately they were extremely selective and ignored Britain's
rampant censorship. While British censorship like a lot of its human rights abuses are well disguised they have undoubtedly the worlds worst record on this basic human right. A link at the bottom of the article explains their record which is now almost a total blackout, to enable a fake media driven peace pretence without basic human rights or justice in Ireland.
The number of agents currently working for MI5 in Ireland, either directly or as paid agents is a 'British Official State Secret' as is anything substantive of a political nature on John Bull's other island but it numbers at least several thousand secret British agents, including their embedded journalists and editors in almost all of the Irish media. The BBC world service while unofficially the organ of her British Majesty's propaganda war, is under the total control of MI-5 and their agents, broadcasting unrestricted worldwide to her neo-colonies and compliant ex-colonies freely but should any of the natives question on its forums the truth about British torture for
example, they are mostly all censored. Huge resources of their taxpayers money are spent slowing the flow of information or blogs which are not pro British.
There were seventy ethical journalists assassinated worldwide in 2009, as a result of publishing such 'secrets' worldwide online, making it the worst year since records began, the Committee to Protect Journalists says. The British generally subcontract their international assassinations quite often, to groups such as Kidon a Mossad entity. Many Journalists which would not support the British lies around the invasion of Iraq, were assassinated
Many governments used the internet to prevent freedom of expression at home, the US state department says in its latest annual human rights report. In many cases electronic communications are restricted to control domestic dissent, it says. US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton described the annual country reports - legally required by Congress - as "an important tool in the development of practical and effective human rights strategy by the United States government".
The US report said, over the past year many governments had applied "overly broad interpretations of terrorism and emergency powers" as a way of limiting basic human rights.
It said 2009 was a year in which more people gained access to the internet, at the same time governments spent more "time, money and attention" finding ways to control people.
Election blocking The report said "increased its efforts to monitor internet use, control content, restrict information, block access to foreign and domestic websites, encourage self-censorship, and punish those who violated regulations". Thousands of people political life are deployed
to monitor electronic communications, it added.
"The government at times blocked access to selected sites operated by major foreign news outlets, health organisations, foreign governments, educational institutions, and social networking sites, as well as search engines, that allow rapid communication or organisation of
users."
• Discrimination against Muslims in Europe is an "increasing concern"
• Sri Lanka violated human rights at the end of last year's campaign
against Tamil Tigers and has also curbed press freedom
• Violence and human rights violations in Russia's volatile North
Caucasus region have risen dramatically over the past year
• Burma's military junta continued "human rights violations and abuses"
Regarding Sri Lanka, the report accuses the government of violating
human rights last year as it defeated Tamil Tiger insurgents.
British Ex-MI5 Head Maintains Interrogated Irish were Silent
Thursday, 11 March 2010
A former head of the British Secret service MI5, has accused
intelligence services in the US, of deliberately hiding mistreatment
of terror suspects from their British allies. In the case of Binyam
Mohamed, a British resident, who was held at Guantanamo Bay after the
9/11 attacks and provided his captors with useful intelligence, which
was passed on the the UK security services. She maintains she was
unaware until 2007 that he had been subjected to waterboarding and
torture.
Baroness Manningham-Buller, giving a lecture in London on Tuesday
night, said Britain's experience of questioning suspects during the
Troubles in Occupied Ireland was that they remained silent. "I said to
my staff, 'Why is he talking?' because our experience of Irish
prisoners, Irish suspects, was that they never said anything," she
said. "They said, well, the Americans say he is very proud of his
achievements when questioned about it. It wasn't actually until after
I retired, that I read that, in fact, he had been waterboarded 160
times."
The CIA was "very keen" to prevent Britain learning how they were
getting intelligence. She mentioned the case of Binyam Mohamed, a
British resident, who was held in Guantanamo Bay and provided his
captors with important intelligence, which was passed on to the UK
MI-5 intelligence services. She was unaware until 2007, she said, that
he had been subjected to waterboarding torture.
She was surprised at the amount of information coming from Mr Mohamed,
as Britain's previous experience of torturing suspects during the
Troubles in Occupied Ireland, was that they remained silent. "I said
to my staff, 'Why is he talking?' because experience of Irish
prisoners, Irish terrorists, was that they never said anything," she
said. "They said, well, the Americans say he is very proud of his
achievements when questioned about it. It wasn't actually until after
I retired, that I read that, in fact, he had been waterboarded 160
times."
Her statement follows insistence by British ministers and Jonathan
Evans, the present head of MI5, that there was no collusion by British
security services in the torture of suspects. Lady Manningham-Buller
added at an event organised by the Mile End Group, a political and
historical research body, that proof Britain was complicit in the
torture of suspects could damage MI5's ability to carry out its work,
particularly as they had promised to cease their torture activities,
after they were found guilty by international courts of torture in
Occupied Ireland. It is believed she was ousted as head of MI-5 to
make way for more robust activities, in conjunction with the Israeli
secret service group based in London, known as Kidon who are involved
in international assassinations and the surveillance of political
activists on John Bull's other island. Some of the assassinations of
Irish activist are sub-contracted by the British.
Electoral politics of democracy in Ireland have become a sham. Two
Lisbon Treaty referendums on the matter of national sovereignty, with
respect to the EU, within a year of each other and different results,
are a good example of it. The Irish media have been debased by
embedded editorial British agents, working alongside global corporate
interests. Ireland's people have been bombarded ceaselessly, with an
alien culture selling the destruction but seductive ideology, of
exclusive self. As a result of the rapes of Empire invasions, the
resulting people of no property, have been impoverished in mind, body
and spirit, like the millions who starved in the Irish famine years,
reduced to a despair of induced mental powerlessness and slavery. The
Irish legal system cannot help, it too has become even more corrupt,
with the exception of serving corporate interests. Unions and their
associated political parties emasculated, destroyed or paid off by the
corporations. All forms of credible protest, are eliminated or
censored by a secret service police apparatus, that rivals Hitler's
Gestapo. The rising anger and hatred of the Irish body politic makes
violence inevitable. It will be horrifying for most.
Those who will be blamed are immigrants, community activists, gays,
intellectuals, genuine union leaders and those defined as
"dissidents." They will be the ones condemned and blamed for the
decline. The economic collapse, which is not understood by many, as a
result of media dis-information, will be used by demagogues and
hate-preachers on these scapegoats. Random acts of violence which are
already increasing, as a result of poverty, will justify harsh
measures of further state control, that will destroy any remaining
illusions of democracy. The British and fascist corporate forces, that
are destroying Ireland, will use the media they control, to hide their
responsibility. The old British game of blaming the weak and
minorities, a staple of their Empire building, will enable their
sadistic violence within Irish society and deflect attention from the
corporate and gombeen parasites, who have drained the energy and
youthful Spirit out of Ireland.
The platforms of genuine social reform are dead or usurped by
collaborators of dis-information. Apologists, who long ago should have
abandoned the ballot box, continue to make pathetic appeals to John
Bull's other island's deaf corporate client statelets, while the
people of no property are ruthlessly stripped, of their few remaining
rights, income and jobs. Pseudo liberals self-righteously condemn Her
Majesty's imperial wars but not the system that is responsible for
them. The longer the pseudo liberal class speaks in the bloodless
language of policies, the more hated and irrelevant they become. No
one has discredited Irish labour more, than gombeen Labour
representatives themselves. Forget about hope for reform in Ireland,
the whole system is rotten and corrupt to the core in both entities.
So how can we resist? How, if all of the above is inevitable, do we
fight back? Should we resist at all? Should we surrender to cynicism
and despair, have as comfortable a niche as possible, within the
British corporate statelets and spend our lives satisfying our private
needs and forget about society? The power elite, including most of
those who graduated from our universities, with our pseudo liberal and
intellectual classes, have sold out for their own personal comfort. So
why not us?
The French philosopher Albert Camus argued, that we are separated from
each other, that our lives are meaningless, that we cannot influence
fate, that we will all die and our individual beings will be
obliterated. But Camus also wrote that "one of the only coherent
philosophical positions is revolt. It is a constant confrontation
between man and his obscurity. It is not aspiration, for it is devoid
of hope.That revolt is the certainty of a crushing fate, without the
resignation that ought to accompany it."
"A living man can be enslaved and reduced to the historic condition of
an object," Camus warned. "But if he dies in refusing to be enslaved,
he reaffirms the existence of another kind of human nature, which
refuses to be classified as an object."
Bobby Sands referred to this, as the Spirit of Freedom, he died
refusing to be enslaved, so did his comrades. So did his comrades
before him, so will his comrades after him.
The dissident for Camus, stood with the oppressed. In Ireland it is
the people of no property, the unemployed workers being thrown into
poverty, slavery and misery in both British corporate statelets in
Ireland, the poor in her inner cities and depressed rural communities,
the forced emigrants and those locked away in a Victorian prison
system. Standing with them does not mean collaborating with parties of
the ballot box, who mouth the words of justice while carrying out acts
of oppression in British occupied statelets, that clearly only serve
the propertied class. It can but mean in Ireland, open and direct
defiance.
The power structures on John Bull's islands, with its pseudo liberal
apologists, dismiss the dissident as impractical and see the
dissident's outsider stance, as counter-productive. They condemn the
dissident for expressing anger at injustice. They call for calm and
patience. They use the hypocritical language of spirituality,
compromise, generosity and compassion to argue that the only
alternative is to accept the systems of power and work with it. The
dissident refuses to be bought off with grants, book contracts,
academic appointments or empty rhetoric. The dissident is not
concerned with self-promotion or public opinion. The dissident knows
the two beautiful daughters, anger and courage-anger at things as they
are and courage to change the way they are. The dissident is aware,
that virtue is not rewarded. The act of dissidence defines itself.
"You do not become a ‘dissident' just because you decide one day to
take up this most unusual career," Vaclav Havel said when he battled
the Stalinist Soviet regime in Czechoslovakia. "You are thrown into it
by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set
of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures
and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an
attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of
society. ... The dissident does not operate in the realm of genuine
power at all. He is not seeking power. He has no desire for office and
does not gather votes. He does not attempt to charm the public. He
offers nothing and promises nothing. He can offer, if anything, only
his own skin-and he offers it solely because he has no other way of
affirming the truth he stands for. His actions simply articulate his
dignity as a citizen, regardless of the cost."
The British and the corporate media in Ireland, have disarmed the
liberal class, they have in the wake of the Stalinist soviet,
convinced liberals, that there is no alternative. Dissidents on the
other hand are not slaves. Dissidents have a choice. Dissidents refuse
to be either a victim or an executioner. Dissidents have the moral
capacity to say no, to refuse to cooperate. Dissidents who boycott or
seriously demonstrate, any occupation or sit-in, any strike, any act
of obstruction or sabotage, any refusal to pay taxes, any fast, any
popular movement and any act of civil disobedience, ignites the soul
of the dissident and exposes ultimately the fickleness of corrupt
authority. As Irish socialist revolutionary James Connolly put it;
"The great appear great to us only because we are on our knees: Let us
rise".
"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious,
makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even
passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears
and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and
you've got to make it stop," Mario Savio said in 1964. "And you've got
to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that
unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at
all."
The capability to exercise moral independence, to refuse to cooperate,
offers us the only route left for personal freedom and self
determination in Ireland, with a life of meaning. Rebellion is its own
justification. Those of us out of the spiritual left, have no problem
with Camus. Camus is right about the absurdity of existence in a life
such as contemporary Ireland, right about finding worth in the act of
rebellion, rather than some pie in the sky. We differ with Camus in
that we have faith that rebellion allows us to be free and independent
human beings, balanced with social responsibilities. Our rebellion
chips away imperceptibly, at the illusions of the powerful oppressor
and sustains the Spirit of freedom and love. In moments of deep human
despair this Spirit of Freedom is critical. It keeps alive our
capacity to be human. We must become, as Camus said, so absolutely
free, that "existence is an act of rebellion." Those who do not rebel
in our time of British and Corporate fascist Empire, who buy or sell
the lie that there is no alternative to collaboration, are complicit
not just in the enslavement of the plain people of Ireland but their
own spiritual and moral suicide.
The article below concerns a recent example of a well known Irish dissident.
Bobby Sands
Died May 5th, 1981
The revolutionary spirit of freedom
Portions of this article were first published anonymously in
'Republican News', December 16th, 1978. The smuggled out article
recalls how the spirit of republican defiance grew within him, and is
a semi-autobiographical account.
BOBBY SANDS was born in 1954 in Rathcoole, a predominantly loyalist
district of north Belfast. His twenty-seventh birthday fell on the
ninth day of his sixty-six-day hunger strike. His sisters Marcella,
one year younger, and Bernadette, were born in April 1955 and November
1958, respectively. All three lived their early years at Abbots Cross
in the Newtownabbey area of north Belfast. A second son, John, now
nineteen, was born to their parents John and Rosaleen, now both aged
57, in June 1962.
The sectarian realities of ghetto life materialised early in Bobby's
life when at the age of ten his family were forced to move home owing
to loyalist intimidation even as early as 1962. Bobby recalled his
mother speaking of the troubled times which occurred during her
childhood; 'Although I never really under stood what internment was or
who the 'Specials' were, I grew to regard them as symbols of evil '.
Of this time Bobby himself later wrote: ''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. ''
When Bobby was sixteen years old he started work as an apprentice
coach builder and joined the National Union of Vehicle Builders and
the ATGWU. In an article printed in 'An Phoblacht/Republican News' on
April 4th, 1981, Bobby recalled: ''Starting work, although frightening
at first became alright, especially with the reward at the end of the
week. Dances and clothes, girls and a few shillings to spend, opened
up a whole new world to me.''
Bobby's background, experiences and ambitions did not differ greatly
from that of the average ghetto youth. Then came 1968 and the events
which were to change his life. Bobby had served two years of his
apprenticeship when he was intimidated out of his job. His sister
Bernadette recalls: "Bobby went to work one morning and these fellows
were standing there cleaning guns. One fellow said to him, 'Do you see
these here, well if you don't go you'll get this' then Bobby also
found a note in his lunch-box telling him to get out."
In June 1972, the family were intimidated out of their home in Doonbeg
Drive, Rathcoole and moved into the newly built Twinbrook estate on
the fringe of nationalist West Belfast. Bernadette again recalled: We
had suffered intimidation for about eighteen months before we were
actually put out. We had always been used to having Protestant
friends. Bobby had gone around with Catholics and Protestants, but it
ended up when everything erupted, that the friends he went about with
for years were the same ones who helped to put his family out of their
home.
As well as being intimidated out of his job and his home being under
threat Bobby also suffered personal attacks from the loyalists.
At eighteen Bobby joined the Republican Movement. Bernadette says: ..
'he was just at the age when he was beginning to become aware of
things happening around him. He more or less just said right, this is
where I'm going to take up. A couple of his cousins had been arrested
and interned. Booby felt that he should get involved and start doing
something. '
Bobby himself wrote. "My life now centered around sleepless nights and
stand-bys dodging the Brits and calming nerves to go out on
operations. But the people stood by us. The people not only opened the
doors of their homes to lend us a hand but they opened their hearts to
us. I learned that without the people we could not survive and I knew
that I owed them everything.
In October 1972, he was arrested. Four handguns were found in a house
he was staying in and he was charged with possession. He spent the
next three years in the cages of Long Kesh where he had political
prisoner status. During this time Bobby read widely and taught himself
Irish which he was later to teach the other blanket men in the
H-Blocks.
Released in 1976 Bobby returned to his family in Twinbrook. He
reported back to his local unit and straight back into the continuing
struggle: 'Quite a lot of things had changed some parts of the ghettos
had completely disappeared and others were in the process of being
removed. The war was still forging ahead although tactics and strategy
had changed. The British government was now seeking to 'Ulsterise' the
war which included the attempted criminalisation of the IRA and
attempted normalisation of the war situation.'
Bobby set himself to work tackling the social issues which affected
the Twinbrook area. Here he became a community activist. According to
Bernadette, 'When he got out of jail that first time our estate had no
Green Cross, no Sinn Fein, nor anything like that. He was involved in
the Tenants' Association... He got the black taxis to run to Twinbrook
because the bus service at that time was inadequate. It got to the
stage where people were coming to the door looking for Bobby to put up
ramps on the roads in case cars were going too fast and would knock
the children down.'
Within six months Bobby was arrested again. There had been a bomb
attack on the Balmoral Furniture Company at Dunmurry, followed by a
gun-battle in which two men were wounded. Bobby was in a car near the
scene with three other young men. The RUC captured them and found a
revolver in the car.
The six men were taken to Castlereagh and were subjected to brutal
interrogations for six days. Bobby refused to answer any questions
during his interrogation, except his name, age and address.
In a ninety-six verse poem written in 1980, entitled 'The Crime of
Castlereagh', Bobby tells of his experiences in Castlereagh and his
fears and thoughts at the time.
They came and came their job the same
In relays N'er they stopped.
'Just sign the line!' They shrieked each time
And beat me 'till I dropped.
They tortured me quite viciously
They threw me through the air.
It got so bad it seemed I had
Been beat beyond repair.
The days expired and no one tired,
Except of course the prey,
And knew they well that time would tell
Each dirty trick they laid on thick
For no one heard or saw,
Who dares to say in Castlereagh
The 'police' would break the law!
He was held on remand for eleven months until his trial in September
1977. As at his previous trial he refused to recognise the court.
The judge admitted there was no evidence to link Bobby, or the other
three young men with him, to the bombing. So the four of them were
sentenced to fourteen years each for possession of the one revolver.
Bobby spent the first twenty-two days of his sentence in solitary
confinement, 'on the boards' in Crumlin Road jail. For fifteen of
those days he was completely naked. He was moved to the H-Blocks and
joined the blanket protest. He began to write for Republican News and
then after February 1979 for the newly-merged An Phobhacht/Republican
News under the pen-name, 'Marcella', his sister's name. His articles
and letters, in minute handwriting, like all communications from the
H-Blocks, were smuggled out on tiny pieces of toilet paper.
He wrote: 'The days were long and lonely. The sudden and total
deprivation of such basic human necessities as exercise and fresh air,
association with other people, my own clothes and things like
newspapers, radio, cigarettes books and a host of other things, made
my life very hard.'
Bobby became PRO for the blanket men and was in constant confrontation
with the prison authorities which resulted in several spells of
solitary confinement. In the H-Blocks, beatings, long periods in the
punishment cells, starvation diets and torture were commonplace as the
prison authorities, with the full knowledge and consent of the British
administration, imposed a harsh and brutal regime on the prisoners in
their attempts to break the prisoners' resistance to criminalisation.
The H-Blocks became the battlefield in which the republican spirit of
resistance met head-on all the inhumanities that the British could
perpetrate. The republican spirit prevailed and in April 1978 in
protest against systematic ill-treatment when they went to the toilets
or got showered, the H-Block prisoners refused to wash or slop-out.
They were joined in this no-wash protest by the women in Armagh jail
in February 1980 when they were subjected to similar harassment.
On October 27th, 1980, following the breakdown of talks between
British direct ruler in the North, Humphrey Atkins, and Cardinal O
Fiaich, the Irish Catholic primate, seven prisoners in the H-Blocks
began a hunger strike. Bobby volunteered for the fast but instead he
succeeded, as O/C, Brendan Hughes, who went on hunger-strike.
During the hunger-strike he was given political recognition by the
prison authorities. The day after a senior British official visited
the hunger-strikers, Bobby was brought half a mile in a prison van
from H3 to the prison hospital to visit them. Subsequently he was
allowed several meetings with Brendan Hughes. He was not involved in
the decision to end the hunger-strike which was taken by the seven men
alone. But later that night he was taken to meet them and was allowed
to visit republican prison leaders in H-Blocks 4, 5 and 6.
On December 19th, 1980, Bobby issued a statement that the prisoners
would not wear prison-issue clothing nor do prison work. He then began
negotiations with the prison governor, Stanley Hilditch, for a
step-by-step de-escalation of the protest.
But the prisoners' efforts were rebuffed by the authorities: 'We
discovered that our good will and flexibility were in vain,' wrote
Bobby. It was made abundantly clear during one of my co-operation'
meetings with prison officials that strict conformity was required.
which in essence meant acceptance of criminal status.
In the H-Blocks the British saw the opportunity to defeat the IRA by
criminalising Irish freedom fighters but the blanketmen, perhaps more
than those on the outside, appreciated before anyone else the grave
repercussions, and so they fought.
Bobby volunteered to lead the new hunger strike. He saw it as a
microcosm of the way the Brits were treating Ireland historically and
presently, Bobby realised that someone would have to die to win
political status.
He insisted on starting two weeks in front of the others so that
perhaps his death could secure the five demands and save their lives.
For the first seventeen days of the hunger strike Bobby kept a secret
diary in which he wrote his thoughts and views, mostly in English but
occasionally breaking into Gaelic. He had no fear of death and saw the
hunger-strike as something much larger than the five demands and as
having major repercussions for British rule in Ireland. The diary was
written on toilet paper in biro pen and had to be hidden, mostly
carried inside Bobby's own body. During those first seventeen days
Bobby lost a total of sixteen pounds weight and on Monday, March 23rd,
he was moved to the prison hospital.
On March 30th, he was nominated as candidate for the Fermanagh and
South Tyrone by-election caused by the sudden death of Frank Maguire,
an independent MP who supported the prisoners' cause.
The next morning, day thirty-one, of his hunger-strike, he was visited
by Owen Carron who acted as his election agent. Owen told of that
first visit 'Instead of meeting that young man of the poster with long
hair and a fresh face, even at that time when Bobby wasn't too bad he
was radically changed. He was very thin and bony and his hair was cut
short.'
Bobby had no illusions with regard to his election victory. His
reaction was not one of over-optimism. After the result was announced
Owen visited Bobby. "He had already heard the result on the radio. He
was in good form alright but he always used to keep saying, 'In my
position you can't afford to be optimistic.' In other words, he didn't
take it that because he'd won an election that his life would be
saved. He thought that the Brits would need their pound of flesh. I
think he was always working on the premise that he would have to die."
At 1.17 a.m. on Tuesday, May 5th, having completed sixty-five days on
hunger-strike, Bobby Sands MP, died in the H-Block prison hospital at
Long Kesh. Bobby was a truly unique person whose loss is great and
immeasurable. He never gave himself a moment to spare. He lived his
life energetically, dedicated to his people and to the republican
cause, eventually offering up his life in a conscious effort to
further that cause and the cause of those with whom he had shared
almost eight years of his adult life. In his own words: "of course can
be murdered but I remain what I am, a political POW and no-one, not
even the British, can change that."
The article appreciates the help of Chris Hedges author. - Calling All Rebels
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