Thursday, 15 May, 2003
Tuesday-Wednesday, 20-21 May, 2003
Wednesday, 21 May, 2003
Sign petition for elections in North of Ireland
May 29th should have been the day for Assembly elections in the North of Ireland. Instead, it is a day of action to protest the cancelling of those elections by the British Government. There is a petition being circulated world-wide to demand the British Government set a date and hold these elections.
It is urgent that everyone who supports freedom and democracy sign on to the petition. Let Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern and George Bush know that world condemns the ongoing denial of democracy in the North of Ireland.
This link will take you to the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/may29nie/petition.html
Forward this to everyone you know.
If the Irish Diaspora, in hundreds of thousands, could carry the song "A Nation Once Again" to number one in the BBC 'Song of the Century' contest; it can certainly mobilize to remove the British blockade on Irish democracy.
Tuesday-Wednesday, 20-21 May, 2003
Protests mounted against election cancellation
The Irish and British governments have sought to put a positive light on the recent breakdown in the peace process, despite the British government's recent cancellation of elections in the North of Ireland.
US envoy Richard Haass has also sought to lighten the mood amid nationalist anger at the British government's departure from democratic norms and the 1998 Good Friday peace Agreement.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair cancelled the elections in a bid to protect Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and the nationalist SDLP from a decline in electoral support. The two governments have insisted the political vacuum which has now opened up can be filled by more talks.
"I see no reason whatsoever for people to be discouraged. We've had a setback .. but this is not a crisis," Mr Haass insisted, on a visit to Belfast this week.
But reports of a new round of talks have been dismissed by Sinn Fein, who are organising protests against the British government's cancellation of elections in the North of Ireland.
Republicans have called for a day of action on May 29 in cities and towns across Ireland to protest against the cancellation of the Belfast Assembly election.
This week's meeting between British Secretary of State Paul Murphy and Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs Brian Cowan failed to come up with a date for future elections. It emerged that "the autumn" would be the "target" for elections.
A press conference following the meeting was dominated by Sunday newspaper allegations about the alleged IRA informer 'Steak-Knife'.
Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness described the meeting as "a failure". He said suggestions of further talks were not a serious attempt to fix current problems.
Mr McGuinness expressed anger "that the British government has cancelled the elections, shut down the political institutions and created a dangerous political vacuum".
"I think any suggestion that meetings will be held by the two governments with the parties over the coming period is all nonsense really," he said.
Mr McGuinness said "the autumn" could stretch from the end of September right through to the end of December.
"This is a nonsensical approach. It is not going to resolve the difficulties," he said.
"The messages that I need to hear and the people I represent need to hear is that the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party are committing themselves to the full and faithful implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.
"We need to see David Trimble take on the rejectionists in his party.
"We need to see him face down Ian Paisley. Opinion polls do tell us that whatever the feeling of the unionist voter at any particular time there is certainly a view that two thirds of the unionist community would like to see the peace process work.
"The big difficulty is that there is an analysis out there that one third of the unionist community is for the agreement, one third is against and another third of people have varying views.
"It is to that last third that unionist leadership has not given leadership."
He pointed out that the process was "going nowhere" unless the unionist leadership was prepared to "embrace and promote change on this island".
Under the most recent legislation rushed through the British parliament, the election could still be allowed to proceed at any date this year. Mr McGuinness called on people to come out on 29 May and demand the right to vote.
Announcing details of an islandwide day of action, in over 30 cities and towns, to protest the cancellation of the May elections and to call for the elections to go ahead in June, he said:
"Next Thursday, 29 May, hundreds of thousands of people throughout the Six Counties should be going to the polls to elect 108 Assembly members and a new cross party Executive," he said.
"Instead, the British government have cancelled the elections, shut down the political institutions and created a dangerous political vacuum.
"The cancelling of the elections is wrong. It is undemocratic. It is disenfranchising the people of the Six Counties. And it was taken against the wishes of those representing the majority of the electorate in the north and the Irish government.
"The British government cancelled the elections because they believed the outcome did not suit their gameplan. That is unacceptable.
"I want to urge people to come out on May 29th and peacefully demand your right to vote by joining protests in your local area.
"It is time for people to reclaim our democratic rights. It is time for people to reclaim the peace process."
Events have been organised for over 30 towns and cities throughout Ireland, while supporters of Irish democracy are also planning events in London, America and elsewhere.
A two-week campaign to highlight the suspension of the Assembly elections is currently underway in Dublin.
On Saturday, members of Ogra Shinn Fein occupied the offices of the British Tourist Board last Saturday, as part ofa number of protest, rallies and occupations culminating in a massive assembly outside the British Embassy on 29 May.
Ciaran Doherty, one of the Ogra members inside the building, said that the occupation was held to expose Britain's ongoing denial of democracy in Ireland.
"For 30 years Britain has engaged in a dirty war that has resulted in the deaths of many people," he said. "But even as these covert and murderous dealings in Ireland are being exposed, the British are subverting democracy by cancelling elections in the North. These elections should go ahead in June."
The picket and occupation lasted for almost two hours, and was well received by the Dublin public.
Tuesday-Wednesday, 20-21 May, 2003
Analysis: They cancel elections and kill 'their own' citizens
By Jim Gibney
It has been a bad few weeks for the British government, its policy makers and those trying to wreck the peace process.
It might not seem so at first glance but it has been a good few weeks for republicans, nationalists, democrats across this island and those working for Irish independence and reunification.
The British government is in the dock of Irish, US and British public opinion, accused of behaving like a 'tin pot' dictatorship for cancelling the Assembly election.
They also stand accused in the wake of the revelations surrounding the 'Stakeknife' affair of killing their own citizens through the use of agents working for their various intelligence services.
These revelations come hot on the heels of the recent Stevens' report which concluded that the British Army and the RUC colluded with loyalists to target and kill those perceived to be a threat to the state.
No one except a small group of people around David Trimble accepts Tony Blair's explanation that the democratic outcome of the Assembly election would have made forward movement in the peace process impossible.
It does not matter whether Stakeknife is a real person or the product of a fertile MI5/6 mind. What matters to democrats, to peacemakers, is that the British government at the level of Downing Street ran murder gangs and approved the killing of its own citizens in the Six Counties.
An important element of the peace process is educating and informing public opinion here and abroad.
Republicans are trying to convince more and more people to support our analysis of the origins of this conflict and our solution for solving it - independence.
So when we say that partition, British rule in this part of our country is undemocratic, indeed anti-democratic, this view is confirmed in people's minds by Tony Blair's cancellation of the election.
When we say that British State forces routinely directed and manipulated loyalist paramilitaries and other agents through their intelligence services and they killed hundreds of people across Ireland, this is confirmed in people's minds by the Stevens' report and the Stakeknife affair.
It is, of course, difficult to distill judgements such as these from the whirlwind of misinformation and the 'avalanche of spin', as Gerry Adams described it in his Ulster Hall speech last Thursday night, that surrounds the Stakeknife story.
Nonetheless, it is important for republicans to bring forward their own views of what is going on.
We don't have to settle on any one particular view about Blair's motivation in suppressing the democratic voice of the people.
Those who argue that he did it to save David Trimble from the DUP are right. Those who say he did so to halt the growth of Sinn Fein are right.
Those who say he did so because at this point in time his political/military system cannot cope with the ongoing impact of the peace process are also right.
Similarly, we don't have to settle on any one particular view of the motivation of those behind the Stakeknife story. Those who argue it is aimed at demoralising republicans and undermining the IRA's integrity are right.
Those who argue that it is the securocrats trying to undermine the peace process are right.
That it is evidence of a turf war between MI5 and MI6 for control of informers and intelligence operations in Ireland; that it is a diversion away from the real story, Blair's denial of democracy - these and many other theories are all valid.
All of this speculation is not only important, it is essential. We must try to make political sense of all that is happening. In doing so, we can plot a course out of the morass of confusion and give political direction to those who seek the maximum political change.
We cannot afford to be either transfixed by the latest 'event' or paralysed or be driven to despair.
What we are witnessing is the unravelling of a centuries old conflict; a trial of strength between those who want the old order to remain in control and those seeking to sweep this order to one side.
There are very powerful forces on the side of those opposed to change.
They are the people who plotted Bloody Sunday, defended doing so and are frustrating the inquiry into the massacre. They are the people who allowed ten men to die on hunger strike, the same people who used loyalists to kill our neighbours, comrades and friends.
There is a fall out from recent events which can serve the interests of those seeking to ensure the peace process works.
So democracy cancelled in the Six Counties provokes a debate in the US Congress. A full-page advertisement criticising Blair's decision appeared in the New York Times signed by powerful and influential people.
Kevin Mc Namara sponsored a debate in the British House of Commons about the Intelligence agencies killing Irish people.
A wider debate has been generated about the morality of what the British government presides over in the Six Counties.
Questions are posed about the quality of a society that cannot function properly, where elections are cancelled.
Questions are asked: 'Is it permissible for the government to break its own laws, to kill its own people? What value the law? What value the government?
Comparisons are being made between the Six Counties and military dictatorships in other parts of the world.
The conclusion that people will draw from all of this is that there is something rotten at the heart of society on this part of the island.
All-Ireland Day of Action for Right to Vote
Sinn Fein has today called on people to come out on May 29th and demand the right to vote.
The party's Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness announced details at a press conference of an island-wide day of action, in over 30 cities and towns, to protest the cancellation of the May elections and to call for the elections to go ahead in June.
There will be a nationwide poster and advertising campaign in the run up to the May 29th Day of Action with 10,000 posters and 200,000 leaflets. Further events will be confirmed closer to May 29th.
Events have been organised for over 30 towns and cities throughout Ireland including - Dublin, Belfast, Derry, Letterkenny, Galway, Tuam, Westport, Castlebar, Sligo, Limerick, Cork, Tralee, Waterford, Omagh, Enniskillen, Lurgan, and Strabane.
Supporters of Irish democracy are also planning events in London, America and elsewhere.
Connacht/Ulster
25th May - Orga SF members will lobby the monthly Donegal County Council meeting.
29th May - Buses from throughout Co Donegal to Letterkenny for 8pm Rally in Market Square.
Galway
Mock elections and local newspaper campaign. Street theatre on Shop Street, Galway City. Protests for Loughrea, Tuam and Ballinasloe.
Mayo
Protests in Westport, Ballina, Castlebar and Charlestown.
Sligo
Protest outside GPO 5-6pm.
Dublin
27th May - Sinn Fein TDs lead a debate on the peace process in Leinster House.
28th May - Former Sinn Fein Assembly members to protest against the denial of democracy at Leinster House.
29th May - 8-9.30am leafleting of DART stations locally and centrally. 2-4pm Protest Flotilla on the River Liffey. 5-6pm White line pickets along major city centre routes. 8pm Rally outside the British Embassy, with musicians, street theatre and keynote speakers.
Leinster
29th May - Protests on all the main roads during day and Dublin for 8pm N1/N2/N3 Navan, Drogheda and Dundalk - Dublin N4 Longford, Edgeworthstown, Mullingar, Kinnegad - Dublin N6 Athlone at 10am, Moate 12 noon, Kilbeggan 1pm, Kinnegad - Dublin N7/N9 New Ross, Kilkenny City, Carlow, Naas and onto Dublin N11 Wexford, Enniscorthy, Gorey, Wicklow, Bray - Dublin
Munster
29th May - Cork - Protests in Cork City, Mallow, Middleton, Clonakilty Waterford - Protests in Waterford City Kerry - Protests in Tralee
30th May - March and Rally, Ahern Crowly commemoration and related programme of events 30th May to June 1st.
Six Counties
29th May
10am all Assembly election candidates and elected representatives will hand in a letter of protest to local electoral offices in Ballymoney, Banbridge, Belfast, Derry, Omagh and Glengormely.
11.30am Sinn Fein Press Conference, Belfast.
12-2pm City centre protests in 5 centres. Street theatre in Belfast at the Corn Market and in Omagh. Mock Ballots in Enniskillen, Lurgan and Derry.
5-6.30pm White line pickets in Belfast, Toomebridge, the Ballygawley roundabout, Strabane, Clough, Downpatrick,the Kinnego roundabout in Lurgan and the Craigavon bridge in Derry.
7.30pm Belfast City Centre Rally, Belfast City Hall