Interview with Dixie Elliott

Peace Processing the Memory of the Conflict

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Republican Contradictions

Guest writer Sean Matthews asking questions of a new republican publication The new republican newssheet The Proclamation produced by the Sean MacDiarmada Ardoyne branch of the republican umbrella group '1916 societies' exposes much of the contradictions implicit in the politics of the republican movement today. In the front page article it asks the question: 'Where is Our Leisure Centre?'  The article goes on to contrast facilities in the working class catholic & protestant areas of Belfast. The key section reads:...

Saturday, September 29, 2012

An Understandable Alien

Guest writer Marty Flynn with a review of a booklet, Jimmy Gralton: An Understandable Alien This inspirational little booklet was loaned to me by the undauntable Ms Padragín Drinnan, who from such a small package springs a mighty proud Irish woman, whom I’m sure many words will be written about in due cours...

Friday, September 28, 2012

The differences between Saville and Hillsborough

A piece from Derry socialist and journalist Eamonn McCann which appeared in the Derry Journal on the 18th of September One of the differences between the Hillsborough Report and the Bloody Sunday Report is that the Independent Panel which probed the deaths of the 96 Liverpool supporters placed the immediate blame where it belonged - on the most senior police officers on the spot at the time. In contrast, Saville loaded all of the blame for the Derry massacre onto a single supposedly undisciplined officer and a bunch of squaddies. No responsibility...

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Open Letter to Adams, Morrison, Gibney, McGuinness, Hartley and McFarlane

A reader of TPQ asked that this item be reproduced. It is an open letter from O’Hara and Devine families to key Provisional figures in control of the 1981 hunger strike. It appeared earlier in Republican Socialist News on the 13th February 2012. We welcome the fact that Danny Morrison has broken his silence and has given some insight into the events of the first week of July 1981 concerning the hunger strike in Long Kesh. In that light we would like to ask a few questions in the hope of getting answers that may finally put to rest the events...

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Ed Moloney Press Statement - Dolours Price & Jean McConville

Press contact - Sabina Clarke: +1 215 509 2345; +1 215 908 7960 As is well known by now, a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) investigation in to the disappearance and death of Jean McConville in 1972 led in May last year to the serving of subpoenas by the U.S. Department of Justice on the Belfast Project oral history archive at Boston College. The subpoenas sought, inter alia, the interviews of Dolours Price, a former IRA activist from Belfast....

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

This & That: Take 13

The Price of Peace Recently Dublin was the stage for a rally in support of Marian Price, currently interned by the British government in the face of protests from an ineffectual nationalist component of the Northern executive. She has been in custody for over 500 days, held without trail and on the basis of information considered so sensitive she is not allowed to access it and accordingly make a defence in a court of law, even a British one where law has frequently proven little more than an invitation to break it. ...

Monday, September 24, 2012

Staying out of Politics: A GAA Myth

Guest writer David McSweeney with his thoughts on the GAA picking and choosing about the areas it decides to politically involve itself with. Well into your fourth decade and still having unquestioned or absolute heroes is something some would look on with pity no doub...

Sunday, September 23, 2012

A Political Process That Reaps What It Sows

Guest writer Sean Matthews with a piece on sectarianism and inequalityRecent Loyalist rioting in North Belfast is a reminder that beneath the shiny new ‘normalised’ Northern Ireland is a political process that reaps what it sows. While our local politicians continue to promote and sell the North to greedy developers, investors and tourism the reality is the majority of us, the working class have been left behind by a so-called settlement in which we are left to rot to be discarded and disposed when necessary. As increasing poverty, sectarianism,...

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Loyalist guns from South Africa

Former Blanket columnist Dr John Coulter lifts the lid on how apartheid South African weapons were used by loyalist death squads to murder dozens of Catholics. It featured in the Daily Star on the 13th September 2012.Where are the remainder of the South African weapons which loyalist death squads used to slaughter 135 people, mostly Catholics, during a five –year murder spree? That’s the hard-hitting question which well-placed nationalist sources have demanded an answer to....

Friday, September 21, 2012

One of the by-products of the Hillsborough report, after 23 years it finally managed to ferret out Boris Johnson and Kelvin MacKenzie

Mick Hall with a piece from his blog on the 1989 Hillsborough Stadium disaster   Supporters of 'Justice for the 96'One of the by-products of the excellent report into the Hillsborough football stadium disaster was that after 23 years it finally managed to ferret out from their rat holes two of the most contemptible rodents ever to work in the profession of journalism, Boris Johnson, former editor of the Spectator and Kelvin MacKenzie, the editor of the Sun at the time of the disaste...

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Maryam Namazie On Islam Demanding Film Censorship

We never will  12/09/2012 I have just posted a statement by the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain in support of Tom Holland’s documentary “Islam: The Untold Story”. Channel 4 has just cancelled a repeat screening due to threat...

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

From Insurgency to Identity

A Pensive Quill reader recommended this review by Kevin Rooney of Kevin Bean's book on the Provisional Movement. It originally featured in The Spiked Review of Books on the 25th of July 2008. Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams’ tribute in May to former Irish Republican Army leader Brian Keenan, in which he described Keenan as a peacemaker, revealed much about the party’s retrospective redefinition of its long struggle against British rule in Ireland. Speaking at Keenan’s funeral, Adams suggested that Keenan lived long enough to see his goals realised:...

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Marian Price and the lost document

Eamonn McCann with a piece on the dimprisonment of the republican activist Marian Price that first appeared in the Irish Times 18th February 2012 Lawyers for Marian Price will next week launch judicial review proceedings in the High Court in Belfast asking for her release from prison on the grounds that Northern Ireland Secretary of State Owen Paterson had no authority to order her detentio...

Hurt and Distress

Daniel Lundy with a letter he wrote to the National Graves Association Belfast on the 14th September 2012 Nothing is impossible until it is sent to a committee — James Boren To the Committee NGA (Belfast), At our recent meeting, regarding the omission of my father, Alan Lundy, from the County Antrim Memorial at Milltown Cemetery an explanation that I believe was disingenuous was given for the failure of the NGA (Belfast) to have my father’s name inscribed along with those of his friends and comrade...

Monday, September 17, 2012

Clonard Commemoration September 2nd

Oration given by former republican prisoner Albert Allen, chair of the Clonard Commemoration Committee in honour of two Belfast IRA volunteers, Gerard O Callaghan and Tom Williams. A Charde. We are gathered here today to commemorate the memory of two C Company Volunteers Gerard O Callaghan and Tom Williams. It is seventy years since both these young and fiercely dedicated IRA Volunteers gave their lives for a cause they both held dear. Both men would be executed merely days apart and this fact would forever leave in the hearts and minds of those...

Some Bones To Pick

Guest writer Eoghan O’Suilleabhain with a response to a recent piece by Niall Carson and Paddy Hoey.  In their article The Bell and the Blanket: Journals of Irish Republican Dissent, authors Niall Carson of the University of Liverpool and Paddy Hoey of Liverpool Hope University write:...

Sunday, September 16, 2012

She’s Never Coming Back

For those who love Scandinavian crime fiction this Hans Koppel thriller is one that will keep the pages turning.  While lacking the depth and complex character building of Stieg Larsson, along with the intricacy of the plot, it does nothing to detract from the suspense and the need to rush to the end. The blurb describes it as ‘the story that has obsessed readers across Scandinavia for the past year.’ Despite the simplicity of the narrative it is not too taxing to guess why....

Sinn Fein Ignores the Dissidents at their Peril.

Guest writer radical unionist commentator Dr John Coulter, former a columnist with The Blanket, with an exclusive offering for The Pensive Quill. Here he ponders if Sinn Fein can politically allow the dissidents of the New IRA to develop like the former Provos. The fall-out from the murder of leading north Dublin Real IRA boss Alan Ryan could be to re-launch the dissident republican movement in the South. To prevent this becoming a political reality, Sinn Fein will need to join the legions of commentators trying to present Ryan’s killing as part...

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Writing to Theresa Villiers

A letter that the Free Gerry McGeough Campaign would like people to send to the new British Secretary of State for the North. The Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MPSecretary of State for Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Office As Secretary of State for Northern Ireland you may be aware of the case of Mr Gerry McGeough who has been incarcerated at HMP Maghaberry since 18th February 2011 on alleged conflict related offences dating back to 1975 and 1981, prior to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. When the Good Friday Agreement was signed,...

Friday, September 14, 2012

Statement by Ed Moloney, former Director, The Belfast Project, Boston College

Press Contact: Sabina Clarke - +1 215-509-2345; 215-908-7960 PreambleWhen the US government served subpoenas on Boston College’s Belfast Project archive in May 2011 on behalf of the PSNI, the subsequent legal challenge was led by Boston College and the strategy was decided by the College’s leaders in consultation with their lawyers. These were not our lawyers, nor our strategy....

The sorry truth – Are we healing or hiding from the past?

Brian Rowan with a piece that was originally published on Eamonn Mallie's website on the 9th of September. It is reproduced with the author's permission.  It is six months since Declan Kearney introduced the word sorry into a reconciliation debate here; sorry in a humanising context to acknowledge the many hurts of war.  Since then he has described the events of Bloody Friday – the IRA bombing blitz of Belfast 40 years ago – as “unjustifiable...

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Paradoxes of Utopia- Anarchist Culture and Politics in Buenos Aires 1890-1910

Sean Matthews reviews a book by Juan Suriano, on the history of anarchist culture in Argentina.  We have taken a good path. As we see it, the formation of social study circles and the establishment of libertarian schools are solid, protective bulwarks in our race toward emancipation.  They are the groundwork of the great revolution.’-La Protesta Humana, January 7, 1900. When the Argentine economy collapsed in 2001, many were surprised by the factory takeovers and neighbourhood assemblies that resulted. But workers' control and direct...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Airbrushing Out Alan Lundy Would be Vindictive

A letter from Daniel Lundy to the Liam Shannon, the Chairperson of Belfast National Graves Association written on the 3rd September 2012.Liam, As Chairperson of National Graves Association (Belfast), I feel it is necessary to bring to your attention a matter that has caused our family undue suffering and distress. My father, Alan Lundy, was a dedicated lifelong Republican activist. He was assassinated by a UFF death squad with the assistance of the British State on 1st May 1993, while working in the home of his friend and comrade Alex Maskey. At...

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Bell and the Blanket: Journals of Irish Republican Dissent

Tonight The Pensive Quill carries a study of the Bell and Blanket magazines by guest writers Niall Carson and Paddy Hoey.  The Bell and The Blanket: Journals of Irish Republican Dissent by Niall Carson, University of Liverpool and Paddy Hoey, Liverpool Hope University ...

Monday, September 10, 2012

Radio Free Eireann interview with Belfast Project Director Ed Moloney

Boston College case, First Circuit, Judicial Review  Ed Moloney, the director of the Boston College Oral History Project on the Northern Ireland conflict, was interviewed on Radio Free Eireann, Saturday September 8 at 1pm ET on WBAI 99.5 FM and wbai.org. A tape recording of a key interview with Dolours Price which reportedly implicates Gerry Adams in a spectacular IRA killing came within hours of being handed over to the British government on Friday when a Belfast court issued a temporary stay. As this is being written, the...

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Sitting Still for Internment

Martin Galvin, New York Attorney at Law, with a letter that appeared in the Irish News on 6th September 2012. A chara It was deeply moving to read your double page coverage about the publication of  In the Footsteps of Ann and glimpses into the special hardships suffered by Republican women prisoners...

Saturday, September 8, 2012

The Ballymurphy and Batang Kali Massacres.

Guest writer Larry Hughes with a piece that addresses the issue of British massacres. Drawing on historical precedent he suggests there is little hope of the Ballymurphy relatives getting justice.  Much has been made in recent days and weeks of rights and freedom of speech and the right to public protest.  Governments are good at attacking each other and avail of every opportunity to place other nations firmly under the international spotlight in order to cause political embarrassment. ...

Friday, September 7, 2012

Reality must dawn then our day will come

Guest writer Sean Doyle of Wicklow branch independent workers union and Clann Eirigi with a critique of SIPTU. “From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs”. These were my thoughts and the long road we still must travel to eradicate gross injustice, inequality, exploitation and the appalling treatment of the most vulnerable, the elderly and the constraints on their carer...

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Boston College Subpoenas: Press Release

As Boston College’s appeal to limit the handover of interviews from its Belfast Project IRA archive begins in front of the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston tomorrow (Fri, EST), lawyers for researchers Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre will be separately applying to courts in Belfast and Boston to stay the handover of interviews given by the former IRA activist, Dolours Pric...

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Resident Evil

Last week Michelle Martin was released from a Belgian jail, immediately igniting outrage and street protests.  Usually I welcome the release of people from the confines of imprisonment regardless of what they have been sent down for.  Jails are not nice places and for the most part are staffed by thugs or petty minded jobsworths. Moreover, I am mistrustful of the desire to punish even when I feel the urge myself, and suspect the motives of the punisher as something less than wholesome. The righteous discourse within which the desire to...

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Of Fenians and Fairy-tales

Guest writer Alfie Gallagher takes Kevin Myers to task on his interpretation of the Royal Irish Constabulary. In last Friday’s Irish Independent, the journalist Kevin Myers accused the Irish Times of regurgitating “the standard, fact-free, Fenian fairy-tale” [1]  in its editorial about a recent commemoration of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). [2] However, there are elements of fantasy in Myers’s own analysis. To begin with, Myers makes a big song and dance out of the fact...

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