Of Myths And Mythomaniacs

The following piece was posted as a comment on the Guardian on 27th June 2012

It is hardly surprising that the above article produced reams of unfavourable comments. Hey, let's not rain on the peace process, threadbare as its explanatory power at times is, it is the only cover we have and we all must march under it; in step and in unity against ... well, all the people we accuse of being wicked and violent for not sharing in its mysteries. That covers anybody daring, in the interests of free inquiry, to allow the awkward squad to express their wicked views, the Guardian included. It too must me shamed and muzzled. The author of one comment suggested that the opinion piece was the most inflammatory journalism he or she had ever read. Perhaps, if their only reading amounts to what is printed on the daily bus ticket.

The 'regime of truth' that underlies the peace process has long proven unable to co-exist with a differing perspective. It has persistently sought to paint all republican critique into the corner of political violence where its authors can be shown through the lens of the peace process as bearing horns, big, long, sharp, blood drenched ones, ready to gore anyone who might approve peace. Demonic characters worthy not of engagement, just exorcism by those ordained in the peacehood.

Take Bethan Jenkins of Plaid Cymru, for example, hardly a cheerleader for armed republican groups. For her views she found herself in the dock facing her inquisitor, the British Labour Party shadow secretary of state for the North of Ireland, who lambasted her for seeking to destabilize the peace process. J'Accuse ... you of not thinking the way I think you should think. Unremitting and hyper-inflated guff, it amounts to nothing more than a censorious attempt to create a moral panic via which alternative discourses may be battered into silence and submission.

A Wasted Generation

Guest writer former Blanketman Thomas "Dixie" Elliott writes on being part of a wasted generation

A Wasted Generation
Thomas "Dixie Elliott"

The problem with the likes of myself is that we are part of a wasted generation; wasted by the very same gobshites now cosying up to each other in government. The Paisleyites who rallied the mobs against Rome Rule and the likes of McGuinness and Adams who told us the war wouldn’t end until the Brits left.

It was they who opposed the Sunningdale Agreement – later reworded as the GFA – in 1973.

Adams from prison referred to the IRA leadership in 1975/76, who called the then ceasefire, as ‘so called Peacemakers’ and set about overthrowing them.

The bigots and the former generals on the hill now tell us to move on but why the fuck didn’t they move back then? Why didn’t they become so called Peacemakers in 1973 instead of waiting another 20 years?

Did we have to wait until the people started voting for the warmongers on the DUP and PSF side? Was that what it was really all about – a war for votes – for political power … so called?

Ford: An Obstacle To Justice

Justice did not suddenly begin when the Conflict ended. There has been a significant disparity between those seeking justice and fair play in comparison to those who are seen as the beneficiaries of the past. Delays and obstacles to inquests, investigations, and fair trials continue to take their toll on peoples’ lives. Beneficiaries of the Past should not be permitted to perpetuate the injustices of the past.

In a democracy only a properly constituted court of law, independent from the executive, can determine guilt or authorise someone’s prolonged detention. Sadly, in Northern Ireland, politicians’ can, and have, defied court judgments and undermined the integrity of the judiciary in doing so. The Secretary of State, or Justice Minister, cannot be permitted to elude responsibility from perpetuating the greatest abuses of the past.

Recently, the media inaccurately reported on a court directive to the Justice Minister, David Ford. The emphasis in the reports was that David Ford has refused to pay compensation in my own case and that the court has merely asked Ford to reconsider his decision. That is not a true representation of the facts. In fact David Ford and his Dept do not think me to be guilty at all as part of their submission to the Court reveals, I quote, “He also refers to his previous (mistaken) suggestions that we regard him as guilty…”

Bridging the Gulf Between Compromise and Abandonment

A slightly edited version of the following piece appeared in the Guardian's Comment Is Free section under the Guardian crafted title, 'By shaking the Queen's hand, Martin McGuinness accepts her sovereignty.' Despite being a pretty ordinary piece there were calls for its type to be censored amidst accusations that it was advocating a return to political violence. Much of the commentary reflects the extent to which the desire to corral writers into a gulag of intellectual obedience continues to exist. The peace process shall not be questioned by the enemies of the peace process. This is the word of the leader.


Tomorrow the former Provisional IRA chief of staff Martin McGuinness will shake hands with the British queen at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. The event has been made possible by the earlier negotiated surrender of the IRA. Surrendering honourably is better than holding out to the last. The leaders of the 1916 Rising in Dublin chose to surrender rather than subject the city’s population to further bloodshed.

In politics as in other areas of life it is often necessary to compromise principles. But there is a gulf between compromise and abandonment that should not be bridged. Otherwise radical ideas and the notion of oppositional currents are devalued. What does it say about the plausibility of the adversarial position if the values espoused in opposition are jettisoned just to make it into office?

McGuinness will not be standing in front of the British head of state on equal terms: as head of another state that had gained its independence from Britain. He is there as deputy head of a state over which the British hold unalloyed sovereignty and which he ostensibly spent much of his adult life trying to destroy.

Peter Hain, the former secretary of State for the North of Ireland, has said that ‘many Republicans will see it as a betrayal.’ He is right. They will feel that McGuinness and Sinn Fein have not simply compromised core principles but abandoned them, principles that he and his colleagues in positions of leadership directed others to both take life and risk losing possession of their own mortal coil in pursuit of. In Derry where McGuinness is domiciled, graffiti has appeared on walls: ‘U Dare Marty’ and 'Sinn Fein sellouts.'  At a rally in South Armagh on Sunday, where many British troops and policemen exhaled their death rattle, courtesy of the IRA campaign, McGuinness was denounced as a traitor who had persistently lied to his volunteers.

Bernadette Devlin McAliskey updates the Marian Price case

Hugh Hamilton Talk Back!
WBAI 99.5FM
Pacifica Radio
New York City
Monday 25 June 2012

Hugh Hamilton (HH) interviews Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey (BDM) about the imprisonment of Marian Price in Northern Ireland.

HH: Marian Price is a former Irish Republican militant who first gained international notoriety nearly forty years ago following her conviction in the 1973 bombing of London's Old Bailey.

She was subsequently freed in 1980 when she was thought to be on the brink of death from severe anorexia nervosa and suffering multiple complications from hundreds of forced feedings while on hunger strike in prison.

But now, her supports say that Ms Price, who is also known by her married name, Marian McGlinchey, has been illegally imprisoned in Northern Ireland for more than a year on the basis of secret evidence that neither she nor her lawyers have been allowed to see. They say she is a political prisoner effectively detained without trial, sentence or release date.

And unless the courts intervene she could spend the rest of her life in prison.

In fact just this past weekend the authorities issued a statement saying that she's been transferred to hospital on the advice of psychiatrists but remains in custody.

Among those demanding justice for Marian Price and calling for her immediate release is the noted Northern Ireland civil rights leader and former Member of Parliament Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey.

Ms McAliskey was herself imprisoned for her part in defending a Nationalist ghetto which was under attach Northern Ireland police and she's currently a leader in the campaign to free Marian Price. She joins us now. Good Afternoon, Ms McAliskey.

The Veil Must be Opposed

Tonight TPQ features a speech from guest writer Mayam Namazie. It appeared on her blog on 19th June 2012.

Bahar a young woman living in Germany wrote:

When you see me on the street I am veiled but do not think I am a Muslim. I have been forced to veil by my father and brothers; they will kill me if I don’t. Before I felt alone, but now I know I am not. 

This is a message she sent to Mina Ahadi, founder of the central council of ex-Muslims in Germany.

Of course, Bahar is not alone. There are innumerable women and girls in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa to right here in the heart of Europe who know from personal experience what it means to be female under Islam – hidden from view, bound, gagged, mutilated, murdered, without rights, and threatened and intimidated day in and day out for transgressing Islamic mores.

The veil, more than anything else, symbolises this bleak reality.

From Dogs of War to Palace Corgis

Martin McGuinness, deputy to Peter Robinson in the Stormont Executive, is to meet the British queen. It is no surprise. The back flip was telegraphed to everyone just after the visit by the British monarch to the South last year. Sinn Fein felt it was out of step with the general feeling of goodwill towards the British head of state. Some of those, bereft of foresight and initially hostile to the move immediately moved into Sammy Somersault mode and began outlining how their opposition to the ‘Queen of Sheep’ had been misjudged.  Big Brother it seems had been watching them and so sheepishly they set about the old doublethink routine.

While many republicans have been outraged by the move, I don’t even find it mildly upsetting, feeling the same as I would have had Gerry Fitt done likewise. British ministers meet British queens. Not much new there. As Mark Devenport of the BBC quipped after interviewing Gerry Adams republicans could at least claim to have one principle left – they would not be supporting England against the Italians in tonight’s game. Not much dignity salvaged there.

Pent-up ire sparks religion of future: It's time to cut Vatican ties

Tonight TPQ features former Blanket columnist Dr John Coulter with a piece that first appeared in the Irish Daily Star, 11th June, 2012.

The Catholic Church in Ireland needs to be reborn spiritually,  otherwise it will become a meaningless fringe cult in less than a decade.The abuse scandals, coupled with a secular society, have rocked confidence in the Church leadership, with Mass attendances collapsing nationwide.

Ireland was once the great bastion of the Church-State relationship,  especially in the Eamon de Valera era. But now Irish Catholics need a new set of beliefs, which will see the pews overflowing as they did in the Swinging Sixties.

Crossing The Ford

Presenter Emily Maitlis’ posture of incredulity that all this was going on unsettled and surprised Justice Minister David Ford. Did he really expect understanding that it was all so difficult? – Brian Walker

Watching Minister for Silly Talks David Ford’s useless performance on Newsnight Wednesday evening was paradoxically useful. It went some way to explaining how ineptitude has come to play its part in the North’s decision making processes. At the same time it threw light upon the suspicion that decisions reached there are even more stupid than the self-created problem that the new decisions were meant to solve.

Mishandling has been a persistent feature of Ford’s tenure in the Justice ministry which sits at the heart of an executive he once described as incompetent, one of whose former micro ministers was only yesterday judged by an industrial tribunal to have been both implausible and lacking in credibility. In terms of his own ministerial claims to be both plausible and credible Ford is plodding merrily along the Ruane Route.

Letter to Baroness D’Souza

Tonight TPQ carries a letter from guest writer Helen McClafferty that she sent to the Lord Speaker at the House of Lords on 13th June 2012. The letter was about the DUP.

The Lord Speaker
Baroness D’Souza
House of Lords,
London
SW1AOPW

Dear Lord Speaker:

I take the liberty of enclosing a recent statement of Terence Gerard McGeough, TCD (Hons) who is currently incarcerated at Her Majesty’s pleasure in HMP Maghaberry, Co. Antrim in the north of Ireland.

Along with many Irish-Americans who watch the proceedings of the British Parliament, I noticed that on April 5th you attended the Political Studies Association (PSA) Annual Conference in Belfast. It is reported that you spoke to attendees about the role of the House of Lords in the effective scrutiny of government and about how the House of Lords engages with the public.

May I therefore take advantage of the House of Lords’ active engagement with the public to draw to your attention a matter which is of such deep concern to Irish-Americans that on April 24th this year, there was a briefing of a delegation of eminent Irish-Americans about it at the US State Department. The briefing was led by Jake Sullivan, Hillary Clinton’s Director of Policy Planning.

Blackballing The Druids

Tonight TPQ features an interview by John McDonagh with Mick O'Brien of The Druids, an Irish rebel band from Dublin, about the band being blackballed from gigs in Scotland by a group associated with Provisional Sinn Fein.  The interview featured on Radio Free Eireann WBAI 99.5 FM NY City Saturday 14 April 2012. Many thanks to TPQ's transcriber whose effforts are always appreciated.

John McDonagh (JM) interviews Mick O'Brien (MO) of The Druids

Eliza Butler (EB) comments.

1:23PM 

JM:  And welcome back to Radio Free Eireann.  Everybody who's been listening for the past year or so know we've been featuring The Druids out of Wexford, and Dublin and Meath and all around. And the last time we left them was on Saint Patrick's Day where they were robbed down in Tompkins Square Park; car broken into and instruments gone!

And Eliza (Butler) said to me as she was talking to Mick O'Brien, one of the founders and lead singers in The Druids, she said “Mick, you're causing trouble everywhere you go!”  And I said, “No, no. They're causing trouble at places they're intending to go!  They're not even there yet and they're causing trouble!”  (all laugh)

I saw up on Facebook that The Druids now have lost a gig in Glasgow because a group over in Glasgow run by Provisional Sinn Fein has (been) trying to ban them from playing in Glasgow.

Mick, what exactly is going on and when were you heading to Glasgow?

The Right to do Journalism

America, the oft proclaimed land of the free, is becoming a place where the free are finding that free speech, much vaunted by the First Amendment, is subject to a deference tax which must be paid otherwise face the consequences. It was reported in May that ‘since Occupy Wall Street began last September, more than 75 journalists have been arrested.’

In the past week there has been a lot of fuss, including a call for a journalist to be fired for having the temerity to ask questions of the US President during a prepared statement he gave to the press at the White House Friday last.

Barack Obama, feeling safe on what he believed to be his own unassailable Rose Lawn, was pulled up short while issuing a monologue on immigration. Neil Munro, a scribbler with a right wing journal, The Daily Caller, asked questions that many with a liberal or left disposition would suspect are fuelled by ideas they do not approve of, in fact are deeply hostile to: ‘why’d you favour foreigners over Americans?’ and 'what about American workers who are unemployed, while you employ foreigners?' sort of underscore the point.

Celebrating Women's Freedom By Silencing Women

Tonight The Pensive Quill carries an open letter from guest writer Sinead O'Connor to Amnesty Ireland, in response to their qualified invitation 

June 18th 2012

Amnesty Ireland:

On June 3 I received a phone call from Colm O'Gorman of Amnesty Ireland.

He asked would I perform nothing compares to you at tonight's concert which celebrates the freedom of women by celebrating the lovely lady from Burma.

He stated that Amnesty,  while wishing me to perform, had concerns about my mental health.

He stated he had been asked to tell me that "she is the star of the show". Meaning the lovely lady from Burma.

What he meant was that they would like me to come and sing but not to open my mouth about anything or say or do or wear anything controversial.

Or act like a crazy person.

I found the terms in which the invitation were put to be extremely insulting and disrespectful.

Our Dirty Little Secret

Guest writer Emmet Doyle writes of his visits to the North's prisons and the injustices he sees there. He writes in a purely personal capacity. 

Bet that title made you inquisitive? He's talking about something sordid, maybe gossip, maybe a rumour - sorry to disappoint, but please do read on.

Now before we start, I want you to think of the people and this post as 100% neutral. You don't dislike them, you don't dislike their politics, only then will you really 'get' what I'm trying to convey.

Today was my third visit to Maghaberry Prison, previously I had visited Marian Price, who has since been moved to Hydebank. Even then, I kid you not when I say it took me a week to return to the real world. In this hideous, grey monster's belly, was a (then) 57 year old woman, looking nothing like pictures I had seen or paintings around the City. Scared the life out of me genuinely, I barely slept over a 3-day period after it - indeed someone who contacted me about the visit afterwards and probably only wanted a 5 minute synopsis of how she was, got an hour and twenty minutes of me trying very hard indeed not to cry down the phone at them!

Since that day the prisoners issue has burned its way into my brain and I can't forget it. I don't want to dwell too much on any individual, so I'll move on.

Today, I went into Roe House, which houses Republican separated prisoners. I should say I hadn't been feeling well at all today, but a new kind of sickness swept through me as we entered the compound which looked to me to be a prison within a prison. A central walkway leads to the entrance of the building, with two large carges on either side - the yards. One for Loyalist separated prisoners to the left, the other for Republicans.

In the right 'yard' circled a group of largely older men, with long grey, black, white beards in jeans or tracksuit bottoms. Walking into the building itself, one would expect to see what Roe looks like in glossy NIPS bookets..

Gods And Monsters – Senior Monster Backslides

... clearly trying to find a judicious, objective-sounding way of telling us that Cardinal Egan is a lying, evil SOB -  No More Mr Nice Blog

Sean Brady, leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, has used the Eucharistic Conference to issue an apology to the many victims raped by Church officials.  Noticeably he did not explain away the culpability for child abuse with reference alone to individuals but specifically mentioned the institution of the Church, attenuating the bad apple theory.

But how seriously will society take this public breast beating? Church apologies for the reign of rape the cartel subjected countless children to must be treated with a large dose of scepticism. Rather than being a heartfelt expression of contrition it seems apologies may well be nothing other than a holding operation with which to weather the storm and get through. Once anchored in a safe port reverting to form is to be expected.

An Unholy Alliance

Tonight TPQ features guest writer the former Blanket columnist  Dr John Coulter with a piece that first appeared in Volume 2 Issue 7 Politics First June 2012
 
China, India and Brazil – at first sight this seems the unlikeliest of global economic power blocs, until you factor in the long-term influence of evangelical Christian missionaries from the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries.

While the world’s media appears totally focused on the political fallout from the activities of militant Islamic fundamentalism, the quiet, unassuming financial revolution known as the Missionary Majority has gone virtually undetected.
 
The opening decades of the 21st century have witnessed the steady expansion of the Chinese, Indian and Brazilian economies, not just within their own individual borders, but as world financial trend setters.

Free Pints No Beer

Took the children to the local pub last night to watch Ireland play Spain. It was more predictable than disappointing. For the kids it was a chance to fleece me for Coke and crisps, then poke, nip, knock over glasses, shout, stomp, flick cocktail sticks and generally disturb others watching the game. Better to have stayed at home for a host of reasons, not least of all a somewhat bulkier wallet this morning.

Delighting in good soccer in effect means there is little enjoyment to be derived from watching Ireland play.  I went hoping they would win but only in the same way that I go to buy a lotto ticket. Losing does nothing to dishearten me. I certainly didn’t share the enthusiasm and disappointment of the excitable crowd in the pub. The roars and shouts, the rushing to the screen when Ireland came close (too infrequent to disrupt the viewing), the exasperation and frustration, the howls and scowls – none of it was infectious as far as I was concerned. Perhaps I passed as a Stoic. Maybe even Stoic City, Peter Crouch, his wonder goal and the quaint looks that invariably come the way of supporters of rare soccer teams.

U.S. Official Behind Boston College Subpoenas Shielded Bush Torture Team

Today TPQ links to a detailed article by Ed Moloney which asks very serious questions of the US Official with responsibility for overseeing the pursuit of the Boston College archive on behalf of the British Police Service of Northern Ireland.  The article first appeaerd in The Broken Elbow and was reproduced in the Boston College Subpoena News.

March 2011 was a busy month at the Department of Justice’s International Affairs Office (IAO) in Washington D.C. The British Home Office had just started the process of serving subpoenas on Boston College’s Belfast Project archive and its officials had begun liaising with the IAO’s staff. The subpoenas were routine matters covered by the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the US and the UK and it is unlikely that at this point they were causing the office’s director, Mary Ellen Warlow any grounds for anxiety or concern.

Murderers, Liars, Conspirators

Today TPQ features a talk delivered by Eamonn McCann on British State involvement in the killing of former blanket man Sam Marshall. The address was given on the 15th March 2012 at a public meeting held at Conway Mill Education Centre Belfast to mark the thirteenth anniversary of the murder of Rosemary Nelson and to promote the publication of The Murder of Sam Marshall.  

One of the things that struck me, the first thing that struck me at the meeting here was when Padraigin talked about people challenging her right to hold meetings, to investigate and to highlight a killing when there was  a reason to believe it was state collusion. And she said anybody's got the right to do that because it's in everybody's interest to bring out the truth when the state kills its citizens. And that lies at the heart of what we're talking about here today.

When the state murders citizens every single person has got a vested interest in bringing the state to account and unearthing the truth about what had happened. Because unless we do it, we are giving the state the right to kill other people.  We're telling them that it's okay for you to do that as long as there's some facade to cover it up.

And that's not just a Northern Irish thing or an Irish thing or a British thing.  It happens everywhere. But it happens particularly in this place of course because of the political situation that we've had as the result of colonialism and sectarianism and all the other aspects, the ugly aspects of life in this part of the world.

And I would say, … Brendan was doing the power point presentation there and looking up at that like little group sort of gunmen like a Hole in the Wall Gang all posed sort of in front of their cars with their weapons. And one of them of course, one of the guys in the front there is Ian Hurst.  People who know what I'm talking about.  Ex-member of the FRU, (Ed Note: Force Research Unit) and the guy's had a very colorful career since. He's actually involved in The Leveson Inquiry into phone-hacking in Britain at the minute. He's one of the reasons why there is a Leveson Inquiry.   He's one of the reasons that there was such a scandal over phone-hacking and the invasion of peoples' emails and all the rest of it.

Because of course he fell out with the FRU.  He fell out with his British intelligence masters afterwards and involved himself a lot controversy and under a number of names, issuing statements and writing up his memoirs and all the rest of it. So they decided to investigate him and they went in and hacked his phone. And who did he get to hack his phone?  Why some of those very useful people who were also in the pay of Rupert Murdoch and News International.

See the point that I'm making is: that once you go into these things the connections go everywhere.  The connections spread around from country to country, from area to area and you get into places and scandals that at first sight seem to have nothing to do with Sam Marshall or anything that happened here. And you begin to understand and to see that these thing don't happen because, solely because of circumstances in the North.  They don't happen solely for political reasons here.

Neo liberal economics, austerity and cuts; We need to ask ourselves is this how the future must be?

Today TPQ features guest writer Mick Hall asking questions of austerity programmes. The piece first featured in Organized Rage.

Today neo-liberal economics can basically be described as Thatcherism on steroids and are principally designed to channel wealth to the richest 1% of the population. It's no surprise the whole wretched business has ended in tears for the 99% of the world's population. Indeed in many ways neoliberalism has achieved its aim as today the '1%' have become enriched beyond avarice whilst the rest of us are increasingly on our uppers.

We need to ask ourselves is this how the future must be, do we want to live in a society where 50% of young people are kept out of work in order to bring down a manageable deficit? A society in which the rich have to be made richer to work harder, while the poor have to be made poorer in order to work harder?

This & That: Take 11

For Sale

This morning as I left the kids to school a car passed by with two small Irish national flags straining against the breeze. Obviously Trap team supporters, they must have been disappointed by last night’s result. On the rear side window there was a handwritten notice ‘for sale’. I am still not sure if it meant the car or the flags.

My son burst into tears at the end of the game yesterday evening. He had turned out in the full team kit, soccer boots and all. We had to listen to the clunk of his feet as he moved across the wooden floor or stomped it, first in excitement then in rage. Yet for all his disappointment even he had the wit to persistently ask throughout ‘what’s that donkey doing?’

The result against Croatia should inject some reality into the soccer mindset that accompanies the vociferous support behind the Ireland side. Last night’s performance is about the measure of the team, and Croatia had the measure of it.

Now the fallout has started with the RTE pundits leading the charge. Almost overnight we have seen the metamorphosis of the coach: from Trappatoni to Crappy Tony.

Why Should Americans Fund British Persecution in Ireland?

Today TPQ features guest writer Helen McClafferty in which she raises substantive concerns about British State injustice in the North of Ireland.

Since the signing of the GFA Americans have been asked to invest tax-dollars in the British controlled north of Ireland. Most recently, DUP Minister Arlene Foster spent £4,285 'enhancing relationships with companies and potential investors' under the pretense that everything is just fine now that the GFA is in place. Yet, what the British government and the DUP are not telling us is that the "Troubles" in the north are not completely over, at least not for Irish republicans.

Gerry McGeough, five years ago, stood as an Independent Republican candidate during the March 2007 Assembly Elections. As he left the count center in Omagh, following the poll, McGeough was arrested in a major RUC/PSNI operation. That very public arrest was an act of blatant political intimidation.  Gerry was interrogated and charged with the wounding of a UDR man during the Hunger Strikes in 1981 and membership in the IRA. In February 2011 Gerry was found guilty of these alleged charges by a Diplock court judge and sentenced to 20 years in Maghaberry prison.

This & That: Take 10

Ray Bradbury 

When I read Fahrenheit 451 about ten years ago I sensed instantly that it was one of the great works of anti-censorship. My wife, as alienated by censorship as I was, gave it to me. It is a classic, if by that we mean a timeless piece of work that has meaning for all generations. That is because book burners are dangerous, always have been and always will be. They burn books and then they turn their flames on people.

Ray Bradbury, author of this great novel has died at the ripe old age of 91. He had a passion for books, having been in his own words library educated, not having attended college. ‘And it’s far more fun than going to school, simply because you make up your own list and you don’t have to listen to anyone.’

That’s really what the burning is all about. They can’t abide by you not listening to them.

Bleeding Nonsense 

Sanal Edamaruku is not a name we are familiar with. He is President of both the Indian Rationalist Association and the Rationalist International. That is not why we have come to learn of him. He has entered our consciousness courtesy of finding himself in the firing line of the Catholic Church in India, which has accused him of blasphemy. Yes, even in this day and age, given half a chance, the bigots and censors will be out waving some prohibition order in your face.

Sanal Edamaruku has annoyed the holy ones for quite a while because of his sceptical disposition which refuses to allow him to share their belief in miracles. When con men in Mumbia claimed that there was a ‘bleeding statue’ in front of the Church of Our Lady of Velankanni, the Indian Catholic Church spoke of miracles. Poor fools rushed in to drink the stuff. Imagine their horror upon listening to Sanal Edamaruku on television in March explain that the blood they had been drinking was nothing other than seeping sewage from a drain in close proximity to the church.

Infuriated, the Indian men of god, invoking Section 295A of India’s Penal Code, filed for blasphemy alleging that Sanal Edamaruku was guilty of ‘deliberately hurting religious feelings’. If convicted the persistent sceptic could face three years in jail.

All because he exposed holy water as hole water.

Stoned in Sudan but not from Pot 

Intisar Sharif Abdallah is a young mother of three children. Not yet 18, she is little more than a child herself. She has been sentenced to death by stoning in North Sudan because she was judged to have committed adultery. Here adultery is something that people do; there it is something they commit. The country is lead by Omar al-Bashir. He is:

wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. The president remains a fugitive of international law and continues to use "genocidal language" against his country's new neighbors - citizens of South Sudan.

No mention of him being stoned. But then genocide is something that holy books encourage whereas adultery is a taboo.

Intisar Sharif Abdallah claimed that her confession was extracted under torture. At her trial she was denied the services of either a lawyer or interpreter.The man that she was accused of liaising with, well he was set free.

The International Committee Against Stoning is outraged by all of this this and has called for people to campaign to stop this misogynistic lunacy. Amnesty International has also echoed the Committee’s stance.

In the words of a prominent member of the International Committee Against Executions, Mina Ahadi:

the people of the world must arise and declare that they will not allow these Islamic criminals to wrap a young woman in a burial shroud while she is still alive and then torture to death by throwing stones at her.

By failing to replace Gary Cahill with Rio Ferdinand, the England manager Roy Hodgson has compounded his original error.

As the European Championships get under way, the first matches having been played, TPQ carries a timely piece from guest writer Mick Hall on the ethics of the English teams management . It first appeared on the blog Organized Rage on 5 June 2012

With the championship due to begin at the end of this week, Roy Hodgson was given an opportunity to right this wrong, when defender Gary Cahill  was ruled out of the tournament after being injured in England’s friendly against Belgium. But instead of recalling Ferdinand to the squad, a man who has won 81 caps for his country, Hodgson chose the inexperienced Liverpool fullback Martin Kelly as a replacement for Cahill.

It seems to me with this decision Hodgson has compounded his original error to leave Rio out of the squad. When he first excluded him he said he had left him out for "football reasons" rather than concerns about whether his body could hold up to a major tournament football. Which would have made him look ridiculous as Rio has played in all of Manchester United’s games since January of this year.

Jeering those who “take to the streets”

Today TPQ features guest writer Martin Galvin with a letter that first appeared in the Irish News on 6 June 2012.


                              Reply to Gerard McGee

A chara

How does Gerard McGee advance Republican unity by jeering those who “take to the streets” the day before a march for Marian Price, which was joined, to their credit, by Sinn Fein ex-prisoners? When did it become “anti-Republican” to campaign for Republican prisoners, including those jailed on Provisional IRA charges or licenses?

It is disappointing to know that Gerry McGeough and other Republicans need more than press statements and Ard Fheis motions, only to find that sincere appeals to put action behind the words in support of Republican prisoners are now misrepresented as an attack on Sinn Fein.

Marty Shaking hands with Bess at Buck House or Stormont

Tonight TPQ features guest writer, ex-Blanket columnist and ardent Royalist Dr John Coulter who maintains it’s time for the Catholic Royalist tradition in Ireland to come out of the political closet and show their colours.

Spare a thought for the thousands of Catholic Royalists across Ireland who have to keep their heads down rather than publicly mark Queen Bess’s Diamond Jubilee shindig.

Loyalist and Unionists estates, towns and villages will organise hosts of noisy street parties and festivities, while poor old Monarchy-loving ‘left footers’ have to stay indoors and toast Bess with a quiet glass of sherry.

Maybe Stormont deputy First Minister Marty McGuinness or Louth TD Gerry Adams could mark the Jubilee by setting a date for the most memorable handshake in Irish history since the Chuckle Brothers. Marty shaking hands with Bess at Buck House or Stormont would be even more iconic than Big Ian Paisley sitting beside Adams to unveil devolution at Parliament Buildings.

The Torture of Marian Price

Today TPQ features guest writer Sandy Boyer addressing the internment of Marian Price. The article first ran in Counterpunch on 30 May 2012


"No Dissent Will be Tolerated"


Marian Price has been imprisoned in Northern Ireland for more than a year on the basis of secret evidence neither she nor her lawyers have been allowed to see. She is effectively interned without a trial, sentence, or release date.  Unless the courts intervene, she will only be released by order of a British Cabinet Minister, Owen Paterson, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Overruling the Courts

Twice she has been arrested and brought before a non-jury Diplock Court. Twice a judge ordered her released on bail.

Each time Owen Paterson overruled the judge and ordered her back to prison. He said that he was revoking her license (parole in American terms) because he had “confidential information” against her. This “information” could only have come from MI5.

In May 2011, she was charged with “encouraging support for an illegal organization” after she held up a piece of paper from which a masked man read a statement.  Northern Ireland must be one of the very few places where holding up a piece of paper can constitute a crime.

DUP Extremists

Tonight The Pensive Quill features guest writer Gerry McGeough who is currently a political prisoner in one of Britain's jails. It was initially written on 24 May 2012.

The constant political persecution directed against me by DUP extremists is quite extraordinary. Never has any Republican prisoner had to endure such a prolonged venomous onslaught. The latest outburst by Nigel Dodds, Arlene Foster and Maurice Morrow as reported on the front page of the Newsletter on May 23rd is just another example of this.

I contend that this obsession with me has nothing to do with justice or even politics but rooted in a near satanic hatred of the Catholic Faith of which I am perceived to be a defender by some of these extremists. Much of this can be traced to October 2010, when the Dungannon Free Presbyterian sect founded by Ian Paisley and with significant DUP membership, placed a paid advertisement in Dungannon based Tyrone Courier newspaper, which described the Catholic mass as "blasphemous fable" and the pope as "a man of sin" and the "antichrist".

Chris Bray: Incompetence or Indifference

 

Gov't Punts on BC Appeal

The United States of America is, like, real busy and stuff.

 On May 4, Boston College filed an opening brief in its weak, half-hearted appeal of the district court's decision regarding the second set of Belfast Project subpoenas. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston owes a reply brief on June 7. On June 5, presumably wearing a beanie with a propeller on top and sucking its sugared thumb, the government filed a request for a 30-day extension. Two days before his brief is due, the AUSA handling the thing informs the court that he "has not been able to begin work on the government’s response in this case."

Has not been able to begin, he says.

Furrowed Brows and Earnest Cant

Tonight The Pensive Quill features guest writer David McSweeney probing austerity related issues

Two decades ago I came across a husband and wife team operating in a state the US side of the Mexican border. They were Christian people. They dedicated their lives to working with people mainly from Central America who were undocumented. They were not always the easiest to get on with, but when I reflect, they are two of the people I have to say I respect most on my life’s journey so far.

They were against abortion. The husband once said to me:

In the context of a consistent ethic of life, we are against abortion, only in the framework of a consistent ethic of life, anything else is just bullshit, there are many in this country who are pro- the birth canal, they want loads of birth to be done, but when it comes to people having life, living dignified lives, no no they wont have that. Some of the most “pro- life” cons in this community would lock these people (Refugees) up in a concentration camp in a heart beat and let them rot.

Clearly Lessons have not been Learned

Today The Pensive Quill features a letter from guest writer Marie Flynn who is a campaign activist on behalf of the interned republican Marian Price. It first appeared in the Irish News on 5 June 2012 

Due to the ongoing internment of Marian Price and the rapid deterioration in her health, we in the Justice for  Marian campaign feel it appropriate to seek answers to the following questions

• Are Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Justice Minister David Ford aware that Marian's treatment has been defined by experts as torture and is therefore in direct conflict with the human rights legislation?  
• Are they aware of any action being taken to recover Marian,s pardon-claimed to be lost or shredded? 
• Would they agree this is an obstruction of justice?

Maghaberry Escalation

Tonight The Pensive Quill features guest writer Helen McClafferty, raising concerns about the escalating situation in Maghaberry and the denial of medical consultancy to Gerry McGeough

Spoke to Maria McGeough today.  Gerry is not feeling well and had to take his heart spray today. It is the first in a long time he has had to take this spray.   His wife Maria is very concerned for him right now.

Today, a massive search was carried out for explosives etc. The dog that came into his own cell during the search had just come from searching the protest cells. His bed and blankets now are covered in dog hair and are wet and dirty from the dog being used beforehand in the protest cells. His appointment with a heart consultant in March did not take place. He has no idea when he will be allowed an appointment. Level of medication is being altered by various doctors who probably do not consult with each other. One doctor took him off the level of medication he was taking in April and two weeks ago another one put him back on the same level he was taking originally?

Criminologists Challenge Ford Over Marian Price

Tonight The Pensive Quill features guest writer Eamonn McCann with a piece, a version of which first appeared in the Derry Journal on 22 May 2012.

Two of the North’s leading criminologists have written to Justice Minister David Ford calling for the release of Marian Price on humanitarian grounds. Professor Phil Scraton of Queen’s and Dr. Linda Moore of the University of Ulster are the authors of a number of reports on prison conditions in the North, including the shocking report three years ago on the incidence of suicide in Maghaberry. Their reports constitute the main body of official research on prison conditions here.

The pair visited Ms. Price at Hydebank last month and have spoken with the Price family and with the women’s governor of the prison. In their letter to Ford they say that:

Marian Price has been imprisoned…without trial in circumstances which may amount to administrative internment and which we believe to be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms(ECHR) Article 5 guaranteeing the right to liberty and security of the person…We are profoundly concerned about the conditions and regime under which she is imprisoned in Hydebank Wood and their impact on her deteriorating health and well-being.

Try Banning It

The Vatican should be abolished altogether as it would take 100 years or more to get rid of the rat infestation of immoral bishops and priests ...The Irish Church should look after its own "alternative catholic people's church" and let Rome burn - Ms Terry Healy, letter to Irish Independent

The latest revelations about the Catholic Church in Ireland may well be the last straw for many who have bothered listening as of late to anything the institute teaches. There is just no end to it. There will be no end to it. After the many reports on clerical child abuse that have emerged, which last summer saw an unprecedented intervention by the Taoiseach Edna Kenny, and the subsequent closing down of the Irish embassy, there is little if any room left for doubt. From the head honcho down the Irish Catholic Church poses such a threat to the safety of children that it must be unfalteringly brought under democratic secular scrutiny. It is thoroughly incapable of regulating itself.  As Professor Marie Parker-Jenkins has last year argued:

waiting for a genuine apology from the Catholic Church or compliance with recommendations from inquiries into child abuse is pointless. This institution has had decades to put its house in order and the Cloyne Report demonstrates its continued reluctance to do so … the church's leadership is morally bankrupt.

John Terry calls Anton Ferdinand a "fucking black cunt" and his older brother Rio gets the sack. Where's the justice in that?

Today The Pensive Quill carries an article by guest writer Mick Hall which initially ran in Organized Rage. It raises question over how the new manager of the England national soccer team dealt with the John Terry racism in sport controversy.

Roy Hodgson, the newly appointed England football manager’s decision to drop Rio Ferdinand, the Manchester United defender from his Euro 2012 squad whilst selecting John Terry, epitomizes all that is wrong with English football. No matter how much media hacks attempt to dress up this decision as one of a lack of fitness, few believe it. Not least because Rio has not missed a game through injury since January of this year.

When Hodgson was appointed it was hoped he would brings back some moral fibre into a game which at the 'highest level, has been reduced to the reactionary belief that success on the park should be bought and sold like any commodity. Thus two of our greatest clubs are owned by a Russian oligarch who gained his great wealth on the back of organized crime, and an Arab Sheikh, whose wealth was plundered from the State his father ruled over. It is beyond me how Chelsea and Manchester City fans can look at themselves in the mirror and believe they have won a major trophy by sporting ability.