Amnesty International: You keep getting it wrong

Maryam Namazie with piece critical of Amnesty International which originally featured on her own blog.

Today, there will be a demonstration against Amnesty International for its disproportionate support of the Islamist perpetrators of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes. I am also vehemently opposed to the death penalty in all cases (it’s nothing short of state-sponsored murder), but Amnesty could do much more to support the victims and the demand for justice.

Of course, Amnesty seems to be getting it wrong quite a bit and for a while now.

The Centre for Secular Space recently issued a report outlining the organisation’s links with Islamism, and also highlighting the case of Gita Sahgal, once head of Amnesty’s Gender Unit who was suspended for criticising the organisation’s links to Cage Prisoners.

Just this month, one of Amnesty’s Board members even wrote a piece in defence of Sharia law! Amnesty keeps saying how impartial they are but somehow it ends up being partial towards Islamism.

I know Amnesty takes pride in being criticised from governments and non-state actors alike as an indication that they are doing something right but when the criticism keeps coming from those on the frontlines of human rights work, surely they need a rethink (and more than one apology).

Talk about losing one’s moral compass!

More information on today’s Ademonstration is below.

DEMONSTRATE AGAINST AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Support Bangladesh’s War victims not the perpetrators

For more information:
Iftekhar Muntakim: imuntakim@gmail.com Mob 07863 133593, Masud Rana:mr9.masud@gmail.com
Ajanta Deb Roy: ajanta_dream@yahoo.com Mob 07403 216980

This Thursday, 28th of February 2013, 3pm-5pm Bangladeshis living in London are going to gather in front of Amnesty International’s office to protest against the misinformed reports Amnesty International has been publishing regarding the war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh.

Since the establishment of the tribunal Amnesty International has issued a number of statements which often seemed oblivious to the real creed of justice for the victims of 1971, often focussing disproportionately on the rights of the perpetrators of 1971 responsible for Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide and War Crimes. These statements have been used, abused, and misrepresented by those quarters who are effectively opposed to justice in perpetuating impunity, thus being unhelpful to the justice process. As a result, the victims of 1971 have been let down, confidence in the justice process has been undermined, misperceptions have been generated, as well as confusions have been created as to the true nature and significance of the justice process.

We, echoing the spirit of Shahbagh, the uprising of millions for justice, strongly protest the role of Amnesty International, which we believe should prioritise the rights of the victims and the justice process as mandates of any human rights organisation demand.

We call upon Amnesty International to stand by the victims, and support the justice process
.

Mural For Marian Price

From Free Marian Price Now!

A Chairde,

a new mural for Marian has been painted on the International Wall on the Falls Road in Belfast.

Bates and Wilkes Central

Occasionally The Pensive Quill, like most other blogs and websites probably, gets visits from racists, Nazis, cranks, crackpots, fetishists, trolls, sockpuppets, hate merchants, obituary defacers, obsessive stalkers and a sundry of others whom we generally ignore, just hitting the delete button the minute a comment from them appears without even reading the content. TPQ hosts a wide range of discussion which is sometimes heated as perspectives and opinions clash. It is not a gable wall where the parade of the pariahs is asked to assemble with a licence to spray hate grafitti.

Fran McNulty speaks to Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre

This Week with Fran McNulty
RTE Radio 1

Boston College case

 

Transcript: Fran McNulty speaks to Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre on what is next for the Boston College Archives

RTE Radio 1

27 January 2013



Download

Far from Powerless

Guest writer Sean Matthews with an anarchist take on the recent flag protests.

If there is anything we can take from the continuing street protests in loyalist heartlands is that we are far from powerless if we utilise direct action rather than constantly lobbying our politicians and peacefully marching from A-B.

Touché

Guest writer Alec McCrory with an account of his experiences at the lower levels of the North's British justice system.

More than two years ago we buried a dear friend and comrade, Peter Skeet Hamilton after his brief though doomed battle with a highly aggressive form of cancer. He had spent many years on the run in Dundalk, a town he loved as a second home. Skeet was well known by republicans the length and breadth of the island. His popularity was acknowledged by the hundreds of people who turned out on both sides of the border to see him off on his final journey. As the cortege left Dundalk his many friends, neighbours and comrades waited patiently in his beloved Ardoyne for the return of the prodigal son.

Dáil Questions

Wednesday's debate in the Dáil focused on the issue of the internment of Marian Price and Martin Corey. The transcript of the exchanges follows. 

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Priority Questions

Northern Ireland Issues

5. Deputy Clare Daly (Ind) asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the steps he has taken in his dealings with the Northern Ireland and British authorities to highlight the wide-spread concern that exists in relation to persons (details supplied) being in prison without knowing the charges against them and without an open trial.

Deputy Eamon Gilmore (Lab): I am very aware of the cases to which the Deputy refers and my officials monitor these and other cases very closely. The first individual referred to has been detained since 13 May 2011, following the revocation of her life licence by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Genuine concerns about several aspects of this case have been raised by Deputies on many occasions, and I have raised them very frankly with the British Government, most recently when I met the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on Monday, 11 February. I have been advised that the Parole Commissioners for Northern Ireland will determine in March on the issue of her continued detention.

In relation to the second individual referred to, the British authorities have confirmed that he was released under licence in 1992. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland revoked that licence in April 2010 and the individual, has as a result, been in custody for the past two years and nine months. I understand that an appeal on the case will be heard by the Supreme Court in Belfast shortly. As the case is the subject of an ongoing legal process, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.

Deputy Clare Daly: I appreciate that the Tánaiste has raised those matters but all of us need to do more. We were among a cross-party delegation that went to Maghaberry Prison where we visited both Martin Corey and Marian Price in recent weeks. The health of Marian Price in particular is a cause of grave concern. We all have a role in putting pressure, not just on the British authorities but also on the Northern Ireland Administration. Deputy O’Sullivan is correct; the Minister, Mr. Ford, could release the two individuals on compassionate grounds at the stroke of a pen.

The issue is a serious one. I am shocked that the media have not taken it up to a greater extent. The cases involve two people who have been in prison for almost two and three years, respectively. They do not know the charges against them. Their solicitors are not entitled to the evidence against them. In the case of Marian Price’s parole commission hearing, a representative is being appointed on her behalf to represent her. This is a person she cannot meet, who cannot discuss matters with her or talk to her. This person will attend her hearing, which will be held behind closed doors, which she herself is not allowed to attend. If that was taking place in a tin-pot African dictatorship, we would be banging our drums demanding justice. It is happening on this island and it is absolutely unlawful and disgraceful. I echo the point made previously on whether we can get an official from the southern Government to be a public voice at the hearing. Could we demand that the case is held in public and that Marian Price and her solicitor could attend? Could we begin to address the issues in the broader European Union community because it is a serious erosion of human rights?

Deputy Eamon Gilmore: Two cases were referred to in the question. In one case a Supreme Court case is shortly to be held on it so I cannot say anything much further in that regard.

In the second case the individual was sentenced to two life terms of imprisonment – 20 years imprisonment to run concurrently. In March 1975 the individual concerned was transferred from prison in England to Armagh Prison. On 30 April she was released from Armagh on humanitarian grounds. The release was on licence and the licence was then revoked on 15 May 2011 by the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. An issue arose about the terms of the revocation. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Office inform us that the parole commissioners considered the terms of the royal prerogative of mercy after receiving submissions on behalf of the prisoner, that the Secretary of State ruled that the life sentences were not remitted by the royal prerogative of mercy, and that the individual remained subject to the life sentence.

The prevailing policy within prisons themselves is a devolved matter which is the responsibility of the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Prison Service is an executive agency of the Department and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. I have received a briefing on the assessment of the parliamentary delegation which visited Maghaberry Prison. My officials are monitoring the situation closely. It is the subject of discussion between the Secretary of State and I and between officials of my Department and corresponding officials in the Northern Ireland Office. That will continue to be the case. I am very much aware of what is going on.

Deputy Clare Daly: If people have done something wrong and have broken the law, they should of course be brought to justice and to trial. This is the opposite case where people are imprisoned for a period of years whose cases have been heard in open court. They have been found to have no case to answer and then secret evidence has been introduced behind closed doors. That is a fundamental attack on human rights and civil rights for everyone in Irish society and beyond.

We do not know that the royal pardon did not cover the sentences because the official excuse is that the pardon has gone missing. Therefore, how do we know what was specified in it?

Why does Martin Corey have to go to the Supreme Court? An open court has already said he has no case to answer. These are serious matters. It is 41 years since Bloody Sunday when people marched against internment. Now there is a new Administration and a new power structure but people are in prison who do not know the reason they are there. The Northern Ireland Minister for Justice could release those two people at the stroke of a pen. I hope that when we have next month’s ministerial Question Time, we do not have to raise the two cases in question because if Marian Price is not released soon on compassionate grounds, given her ill health, it will lead to a seriously destabilising situation in the North for the foreseeable future.

Deputy Eamon Gilmore: In one case, as I said, there will be a Supreme Court hearing and my information is that it is due to be held shortly. A date was set for it earlier in the month but the hearing was not held on that date. I understand a new date will be set for it shortly.

My understanding is that the parole commissioners will hear the Marian Price case in early March. Three dates have been indicated to me as to when the case will be held and it has been indicated to us that there will be a decision shortly after that. Clearly, we cannot prejudge what that decision is likely to be and I will certainly be keeping a very close watch on what is happening and my officials will be doing that on my behalf.

Other Questions

Northern Ireland Issues

9. Deputy Gerry Adams (SF) asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the various legal proceedings currently being taken by persons (details supplied) to set aside the indeterminate sentence being imposed on them by the British Secretary of State, Ms Theresa Villiers, without access to judicial proceedings in which they can see, hear and challenge the evidence against them; and if he has expressed his abhorrence of the denial of fair judicial procedure to these two Irish citizens

29. Deputy Mick Wallace (Ind) asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade in view of the fact that Marian Price has been interned without trial for a period of nearly two years, if he will consider raising the matter at a European level; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

30. Deputy Frank Feighan (FG) asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on the Marian Price case; and the action he is taking to advance the case

33. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF) asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the deterioration of the physical and mental health of a person (details supplied); his views on their prison conditions; and if he has discussed them with British Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers.

63. Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (Ind) asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Office and the Secretary of State with regard to Marian Price; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

66. Deputy Damien English (FG) asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Stormont Assembly Minister, David Ford, denied until the last minute compassionate parole to persons (details supplied); if he will raise with Minister Ford at their next meeting the need to address compassionately requests from both in view of the limbo position in which they have been placed, having being neither charged with an offence, nor given a release date, granted bail or seeing the evidence against them; and his views on a royal pardon issued to one of the persons in the 1970s being conveniently misplaced.

67. Deputy Martin Ferris (SF) asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has raised with the British authorities the continued detention-internment without trial of two Irish citizens (details supplied) in prison; and if he has demanded their immediate release.

Deputy Eamon Gilmore: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9, 29, 30, 33, 63, 66 and 67 together.

I am very aware of the cases to which the Deputy refers and my officials monitor these and other cases very closely. The first individual referred to has been detained since 13 May 2011 following the revocation of her life licence by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Genuine concerns about several aspects of this case have been raised by Members on many occasions, and I have raised them very frankly with the British Government, most recently when I met the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland last Monday, 11 February. I have been advised that the parole commissioners will determine in March on the issue of her continued detention.

In relation to the second individual referred to, the British authorities have confirmed that he was released under licence in 1992. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland revoked that licence in April 2010 and the individual has as a result been in custody for the past two years and nine months. I understand an appeal in relation to the case will be heard by the Supreme Court in Belfast shortly. As the case is the subject of an ongoing legal process, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.

Deputy Seán Crowe: There has been some discussion of this but I want to add a few points. The nature of these cases involves unseen and unknown evidence, so it is difficult for people to defend themselves when they do not know what evidence has been presented against them. The common denominator is the involvement of shadowy figures in the background from MI5 and MI6 who are not friends of the Irish peace process. The Minister said he would get the report of the delegation that visited Marian Price. That delegation has stated that her health is getting worse and we know she is only allowed to exercise in a corridor late at night, with no access to the fresh air or the environment. She is also concerned that there is talk of closing the wing she is on and returning her to what she described as the dungeon. She said that part of the problem with the dungeon was that she was refused access to medication. The Red Cross has been refused access to Hydebank where she is being held. Will the Minister raise that with the British Government?

Deputy Eamon Gilmore: I have already brought to the attention of the Secretary of State the previous visit that was undertaken by a group of Oireachtas Members whom I subsequently met and whose report and assessment I was given. On a continuing basis, we have raised with the Minister for Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive the conditions in which Ms Price is being held. The immediate focus is on the hearing by the parole commissioners that is due in early March.

Martin Galvin Interviewed

Radio Free Éireann
WBAI 99.5FM Pacifica Radio
New York City
2 February 2013

John McDonagh (JM) interviews Martin Galvin (MG) via telephone from the home of Gerry McGeough in Dungannon, County Tyrone about the recent events he attended in Ireland. Thanks to our transcriber.


JM:  Martin, before we get into your itinerary I just wanted to reminisce a little bit about (former New York City Mayor) Ed Koch.  I told the story about how Ed Koch tried to stop the NYPD Emerald Pipe Band from marching in Bundoran, County Donegal on behalf of the Republican Movement even though they were doing it here and marching at Irish Northern Aid events in Astoria. What's your recollections of Ed Koch?

Where's Our Piece Gerry?

Guest writer Marty Flynn, a regular contributor to discussion on TPQ, pens a satirical piece which takes a duck's eye view of the world by peering up the Great Leader's fundament as he lies in the bath to get a better sense of his ideas.

Dear Gerry, Martin too if you want to listen in,

My wife turns 60 this year."so what!" says you, as you no doubt lie in your perfumed bath, adorned with gold taps, playing with your ducks, alone these days amongst living things that believe you. Well, her family wanted to bring her to Las Vegas (no the showgirls don't interest me) on a trip of a lifetime. She loves all that razzmatazz!

Hang, fry, or 'bin Laden' any and all cop-killers

Former Blanket columnist and Radical Unionist commentator, Dr John Coulter, is a strong advocate of the death penalty for convicted cop-killers. In this controversially written article, he sets out his case for the return of the rope and electric chair. This article appeared in the 4th February 2013 edition of the Irish Daily Star.

Hang ‘Em High! The famous Clint Eastwood Western title should be the new joint policy of the Dail and Stormont for convicted vermin who murder police officers, such as Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe.

From Lord Edward to TV Mike

Tommy McKeareny with a piece on the upcoming Mid Ulster by-election which initially featured on his own blog.

The mighty party Edward Carson once led with iron-fisted certitude is now stumbling, drunkenly towards an inglorious end. Surveying turmoil around him, Mike Nesbitt, the current leader of the once all-powerful Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), might now think he would have been better advised to try reality television than attempting to fill the position once occupied by men like James Craig and John Andrews. In his desperation to succeed, Nesbitt is staking everything on a strategy that is ill judged and ill advised. The outcome of his gamble is unlikely to save his leadership or his party and most certainly will not enhance unionism.

Brian Mór

Remembering cartoonist Brian Mór on the first anniversary of his death. 

The Death of Brian Mór - 2012

BRIAN MÓR Ó BAOIGHILL

View Brian's cartoons on The Pensive Quill
 to scroll through all of them, use the "Older Posts" link at the bottom of each page.

A small selection of his work:

There at the Creation

Radio Free Eireann interview with Anthony McIntyre and Ed Moloney: The Death of Dolours Price

Boston College case, Dolours Price

Radio Free Eireann
WBAI 99.5 FM Pacifica Radio
New York City
26 January 2013

John McDonagh (JM) and Sandy Boyer (SB) interview via telephone Ed Moloney (EM) and Anthony McIntyre (AM), the director of the Belfast Project and the lead researcher of the Belfast Project respectively, about the recent passing of former IRA Volunteer Dolours Price. Thanks as ever to TPQ's transcriber.

Thank you for standing with me

Below is the bulk of an email from Bayli Silberstein, a 14-year-old student in Florida. Bayli has been trying to form a student group called a Gay-Straight Alliance to combat the homophobic name-calling and bullying she and her friends face at school. She reached out to the American Civil Liberties Union for help. The email was sent to me through the ACLU and included an appeal for ACLU members to  sign a petition. It is worthwhile sharing. Without the work of the ACLU over the decades in the US, many current freedoms would not be available to American citizens.

Disastrous and Irresponsible Decision

Dr John Coulter with a his piece which first featured in his Ireland's Eye column in Tribune Magazine on 10th February 2013

The British and Irish Labour parties have made a disastrous and irresponsible decision not to contest elections in Northern Ireland in a last ditch bid to save their floundering so-called sister party, the moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party.

Gethsemane

Five years ago today, a Saturday, our old friend Brendan Hughes died in a Belfast hospital after a short illness. For over a week this redoubtable leader of the H-Block blanket protest had lain beyond the reach of any human help other than the palliative. Sometimes he rallied. The previous Saturday in the company of another former prisoner I made my way to the hospital in fear of the worst.  Upon arriving we were relieved to learn the moment had passed and for a while Brendan seemed to pick up. But it was a temporary respite. 

Unionist appetite for domination and imposition is insatiable

Guest writer David McSweeney with a piece that addresses among other things the likelihood of Irish unity.

We are confronted with a vast, confusing and obscure tableau of processes and committees and sub groups which pretend to solve common problems, from terrorist financing, to avian flu and the Middle East Peace process. Now working on the side of those subjected to these processes, rather than those designing or running them, it is clear that the existence of such processes can have in itself a debilitative effect: the mere existence of a “process” creates the erroneous impression that something is being done, when it is not.

Maghaberry – the reality of strip-searching

Stephen Murney is a Republican Prisoner in Roe 4, Maghaberry. He penned the following article on 4th February 2013. It initially featured on the éirígí website.


In occupied Ireland today many Irish Republicans find themselves in the unfortunate position of being arrested charged and imprisoned purely as a result of their opposition to the on-going British occupation and for campaigning for national and social liberation.

What Now For the Prisoners

Tonight The Pensive Quill carries an article by Guest Writer Alec Mc Crory. 

Yesterday David Ford rejected the suitability of a new body scanner for use in the prison estate based on a highly dubious report. According to the findings of the pilot the new technology was found wanting in the detection of contraband. The report claims the state-of-the-art equipment failed to detect items as varied as mobile phones, knives, drugs and pens secreted on the persons of members of the prison staff. A likely story, if you ask me.

This report should be treated with extreme caution. The methodology employed raises serious questions as to the veracity of its findings. Screws who have been vigorously opposed to the ending of full body strip searches were used as guinea pigs to smuggle items on their persons for detection. All manner of contraband including, I presume, hand guns, AK47s, and RPG rockets passed through the scanner undetected. It would make one wonder whether the machine was switched on at all. How does a piece of modern technology fail so comprehensively to do the job it was designed to do? Surely the manufactures would have something to say about such claims. Or are we dealing with a conspiracy to subvert a perfectly good machine for ulterior motives?

And so after six months of testing we are told that the new scanner is not fit for purpose. How then are we able to make our airports and ports safe for the general populace to pass through yet we are unable to do the same in HMPs? Either Mr Ford is incompetent or he is having a laugh at everyone’s expense. Are we really to believe in the modern age the great minds at the NIPS cannot come up with a workable solution to this problem? Perhaps we have the wrong people doing the job. Or worse: We are dealing with a bunch of luddites opposed to technological solutions to Victorian practices. Both ways the system is failing and all the prisoners suffer as the result.

The upshot of this latest setback is that prisoner will endure more months of brutal and degrading treatment. By ending the protest it was hoped that Ford use the opportunity to expedite the pilot scheme and introduce the new systems. How wrong were we to expect such a common sense approach? In a sense we should not be surprised by this newest failure by the NIPS to do the right thing. The prison system has always been slow to change without the application of pressure. What now for the prisoners?

I could go on to deal with the role of the politicians in all of this but I would not be telling people anything they do not already know. I think it best to end with my final question: What now for the prisoners? Not to learn for the past will lead to the same mistake being repeated in the future.

Death in Derry

Philippa Reynolds is not a name that I was familiar with up until Sunday. I don’t think I ever recall knowing anyone called  Philippa. It is not the type of handle that I would have heard used too often having lived my life between jails and Northern nationalist areas. Not many in either called that. A Reynolds here and there but not a  Philippa.

Welcome Home Gerry

Guest writer Helen McClafferty with a short piece on Gerry McGeough's homecoming after some years in a British prison.

It was such a pleasure to be in County Tyrone to celebrate Gerry’sfreedom and to finally meet the co-chairs of the Free Gerry McGeough campaignwho have done such a fantastic job in keeping Gerry’s plight in the forefront of the media and never stopped lobbying politicians in the Dail, Stormont, Westminster and the Government of Catalonia.

Moloney & McIntyre on US Government’s Decision To Pursue BC Archive Despite Death Of Dolours Price

Boston College case, DOJ, First Circuit

Press Statement From Ed Moloney & Anthony McIntyre On US Government’s Decision To Pursue BC Archive Despite Death Of Dolours Price:

We are not parties to the appeal which Boston College has brought to the First Circuit Court of Appeals (Docket number 12-1236), but our case before the Supreme Court of the United States argues that we are entitled to be heard on these matters which involve the First Amendment rights of academics and journalists to the confidentiality of sources and materials in opposition to subpoenas issued on behalf of foreign law enforcement agencies.

Rally For Marian Price

It Has Been 21 Months

A statement from the Price McGlinchey Family


A Chairde,

It's been 21 months since Marian was arrested and imprisoned - we hope to step up the campaign for her release in the coming weeks. As Marian’s family we are grateful both for your continuing support and your respect and understanding of the pressures we are under.

Excellent turnout at Welcome Home Function for Gerry McGeough

Guest writer Helen McClafferty with her take on the return home from prison of republican activist Gerry McGeough

A great night was had by all at the welcome home function for Gerry McGeough.  The venue was packed.  Several hundred people from East Tyrone, across Ireland and overseas gathered for what was a truly upbeat and energy packed night.  The craic, as they say, was absolutely fantastic.

Home Again

John  McDonagh (JM) and Sandy Boyer (SB) interview Gerry McGeough (GM) via telephone from his home in Dungannon, County Tyrone in his first interview since his release from Maghaberry Prison last Monday. Mick O'Brien (MO) of The Druids also joins the conversation.

Radio Free Éireann

WBAI 99.5FM Pacifica Radio

New York City

2 February 2013


GM: Well you can't beat that for an introduction.

The State we are in

Pauline Mellon with a few thoughts on the internment of Marian Price, whioch appeared as a letter in the Irish News on the 7th February 2013.

In 1998 here in the north we were promised a 'new beginning.' The Good Friday Agreement voted for by the people was to bring that 'new beginning.'

The agreement promised 'measures compatible with a normal peaceful society' and an era in which justice would be done and would be seen to be done.

Nearly 15 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement Marian Price McGlinchey is the victim of administrative internment. Marian was bailed by the courts but sent to prison at the whim of the British Secretary of State who alleged Marian had breached the terms of the licence she was released from prison on in 1980. This licence was overridden by the Royal Prerogative of Mercy (pardon) Marian received shortly after her release.

When this point was raised the authorities claimed the pardon document was either lost or shredded in 2010. Surprisingly, the British government claim to know the content of the missing pardon yet have failed to produce evidence to substantiate their claim. So how can the authorities make a decision based upon the contents of a document they have not seen? Oddly enough a number of copies of the 13th century Magna Carta still exist yet we are expected to believe that a royal pardon issued in 1980 is missing from government archives with no other copy to be found. This is the only pardon in the history of the British Monarchy to go missing.

Since her arrest in May 2011 Marian has been held in isolation and as a result is very ill. It would seem that the Northern Ireland Assembly is conspiring with the British government to intern Marian and others using methods that contravene the European Convention on Human Rights. The Good Friday Agreement was to have instilled a hope of a 'normal peaceful society' yet any reasonable and rational person would surely agree that internment has no place in any 'normal peaceful society,' or in any society that claims to promote democracy.

In closing, I would like to draw the attention of those elected to public office to the very poignant words of the American author Mark Twain 'The government is merely a servant, merely a temporary servant.'

Mindset of the English Ruling Class

The following is an unpublished letter written by Moya St Leger to the Irish News. 

Dear Sir,

At a public meeting chaired by John McDonnell MP at the House of Commons on 20 Nov 12 to present the cases of the prisoners Gerry McGeough, Marian Price and Martin Corey, Conor Murphy SF pointed out that their imprisonment is an abuse of the legal process. He demanded their immediate release.

National Republicanism

In the latest of a series of exclusive articles for debate, former Blanket columnist, guest writer Dr John Coulter, outlines the key points of his new non-violent ideology for Irish nationalism known as National Republicanism.

The readers of The Pensive Quill, and The Blanket before that, were never under any illusion as to what I am and where I stand on Biblical Christianity, the Union and British Commonwealth.

Unprepared For College

The following infograph has been submitted to TPQ by Alexandra Campbell of the College@Home group which campaigns on education. It initially featured on the College@Home site.


 "Give it the ol’ college try.”

We’ve all heard it. Whether from a coach, a parent or other authority figure, the phrase is often used as encouragement when one is faced with a seemingly insurmountable task. It instructs us to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and do our best, even in the face of possible, or even likely, defeat. 

Just Another Weapon in the Government's Arsenal

Tonight TPQ features a talk delivered by Monsignor Raymond Murray at a meeting in London on 20th November 2012. Appreciation as always to our transcriber.

We are reminding ourselves this evening of the importance of every human being – the concrete historical, live individual, the person with a name. The name today is Marian Price. All morality, Christianity and human rights, at least a person’s commitment to these things, can be summed up in our attitude to this man or woman with a name – not some abstract man or woman. A person with dignity like Marian Price.

Cruel Britannia

Tommy McKearney has penned a review on his own blog of Ian Cobain's book Cruel Britannia. A Secret History of Torture.


Britain's public and its government are currently devoting significant attention to the behaviour of the nation's broadcast and print media. Both Parliament and the people are, understandably, concerned to ensure that the powerful Murdoch News Corporation and the equally influential BBC are conducting their affairs properly and with decency. The British people are entitled to know, and indeed demand, that newsgathering is done using correct procedures and that information relating to matters of public concern will be disseminated, whether or not it causes embarrassment to those in positions of power.

Via Dolorosa

Last Monday when we placed Dolours Price in the cold forbidding clay of a Belfast cemetery, I had no sense that the earth was enriched by absorbing her, just that we had been impoverished by relinquishing our grip on her as she passed into the ground. It marked the final goodbye in stark contrast to first hello that heralded a friendship 14 years earlier. Comradeship had long preceded friendship. People don’t need to know each other to be comrades, merely to be part of the same insurrectionary enterprise. Platonic relationships frequently grow from comradeship but cannot be reduced to them. When comradeship forged by conflict moved rapidly into friendship in a less bellicose world I felt immensely honoured. As a teenage republican I was inspired by the raw courage of two West Belfast siblings, often referred to as the Venceremos Sisters, putting it up the might of what Ian Cobain has termed Cruel Britannia.

It would be a quarter of a century after her epic hunger strike that I first met Dolours. The location, Dublin 1999. Along with her sister Marian, whom I had previously been introduced to in Belfast at another political event, she was attending a discussion in the Teacher’s Club at which I spoke along with Tommy McKearney, himself a survivor of a prolonged hunger strike. We had gathered to muse on the Good Friday Internal Solution which fell so far short of republican goals Sinn Fein’s Jim Gibney had earlier told his audience in a college on Belfast’s Whiterock Road that, from a republican perspective, it could easily be thrown in the bin; its only redeeming factor was that it could advance the nationalist agenda which at that time republicanism was deferring to. Gibney was commenting on what should have been a clear blue sea divide but would soon grow blurred under the mist and myth of the peace process as republicanism came to embrace, even celebrate, its own oceanic failure.

It was evident then that as DNA republicans neither Dolours nor Marian Price could ever buy into anything that resembled the Treaty of 1922. They were not the type of children prepared to devour the revolution and as such would in some ways come to be devoured by it. They came equipped with the right amount of prescience to grasp that as a consequence of accepting an agreement that the party had never actually negotiated, but would later claim ownership of, Sinn Fein would come to behave in a fashion that would suggest its origins lay in Cumann na nGaedheal rather than any anti-Treaty composition.  A well read articulate and intelligent woman, she was too instinctive a republican to buy into Treaty politics which had been bequeathed to Ireland by a Blue shirt mindset. She would have subscribed to the view of Padraic Pearse that:

The Man who, in the [matter] of Ireland, accepts as a “final settlement”, anything less by one fraction of an iota than separation from England - is guilty of so immense an infidelity, so immense a crime - that it were better for than man - that he had not been born.

I became firm friends with both sisters. Dolours played godmother to my son while Marian was maid of honour at our wedding, a politically promiscuous event that saw loyalist and republican activists mingle with each other among the guests to give us a warm nuptial send off. I danced with Dolours when she and Brendan Hughes mischievously interrupted our first bride and groom dance, he whisking my wife Carrie across the floor leaving me to dance with someone more dainty and less clumsy than myself.  It was the anniversary of the funeral of Bobby Sands.

Dolours, the consummate entertainer, was at ease with all manner of opposition, being more than capable of holding her own intellectually. I once introduced her to a loyalist friend at Dublin airport, where she held court, enchanting us with her wit and acerbic thrusts at those who scorned the ‘reviled and spat upon’ whose company she was content, in that resigned sense that was her way, to be part of.  My friend, I believe, was more charmed than he was persuaded.

On another occasion both of us made the trek to Derry to stand shivering outside a voting booth canvassing for the Derry socialist Eamonn McCann, for whom she had enormous admiration of considerable longevity, and who would on the day deliver her funeral oration. At that time a number of republicans including the late Brendan Hughes anticipated Sinn Fein embracing some aspects of Tory Party economics, and felt it important to lend their support to something that had more resemblance to the politics that sustained us through the years of conflict and jail endurance rather than identify with the neo liberal ethos of the party that had sought to crush the republican struggle.

It was a strange day. Despite the mutual antipathy between us and Sinn Fein, it was their party members whom I had known from jail that kept us supplied with ready cups of tea and snacks throughout our sojourn. It was as bitterly cold as the day we buried her.  When Raymond McCartney came into the polling station that evening his wife, a former republican prisoner who had served time in the same wing as Dolours, was genuinely pleased to see her, embracing her warmly, while myself and Raymond chatted. Derry was a cold place that day but not as cold as a Belfast summer where the chill was perennially and perniciously pumped the way of those who refused to profess a belief in what they clearly did not believe.

On a different occasion I ended up alongside Dolours outside Belfast City Hall where PSNI members were pummelling people for sitting on the road at an anti war rally shortly after the US invasion of Iraq. She turned up at these things. That was her, one apple that never fell too far from the radical tree within which she had bloomed.

As Brendan Hughes lay dying, she called to our home and we sat together awaiting the dreaded word from Belfast. We saw the hole coming yet still fell through it as the terra firma gave way beneath our feet when confirmation of Brendan’s passing came. The following day she drove me to Belfast on a solemn journey. The next such journey would see me without her but for her.

Then Dolours was fairly robust and not yet near the shell that she slowly morphed into as the years took their toll.  The demons that haunted her were not yet beyond a command that would keep them at a safe distance. But it was a losing battle. She was at pains to work out how so many could with consummate ease perform a volte-face  on the politics they had sometimes killed for, and march in the opposite direction away from republicanism and into the Treaty camp where the entrance sign clearly states ‘abandon all republican hope all ye who enter here.’ Was the motivation for killing so shallow and self serving? 

As the political-moral construct through which she interpreted the world was deconstructed piece by piece, and as profanity after profanity took root in ground she held sacred, the dyke could no longer be plugged. In my affidavit submitted to a US court I expressed the view that the course being pursued by the British police aided by the US was potentially deleterious to the psychological wellbeing of Dolours. The same prosecutorial zeal and harsh indifference that hounded Aaron Swartz to his death would prove far from sated. 

On the Sunday prior to her burial I travelled up to Belfast with my children. My wife had been there since the Friday before. In the wake house I kissed her cold forehead while my son, her god child, held his hand over his mouth mesmerised by my act.

The following morning republicans and others descended on a windblown and rain swept Andersonstown to fall in behind the funeral cortege as it would begin its journey to the Church and from there on down the Andersonstown Road to Milltown Cemetery. I met ex prisoners I had not seen in almost four decades. It was the wettest funeral I recall ever attending. There was virtually no respite from the relentless rain as it sought to penetrate the phalanx of umbrellas that seemed to move as one, Dolours leading the way to her final resting place. We were drenched as the skies seemed to cry above our heads.

In ways she was an enigmatic woman who had an ability to discern. The hard exterior which she sometimes projected never deflected me away from grasping that beneath it all was a sensitivity not at all cut out for the type of conflict she ended up being central to. The road of conflict was stony and she walked it barefooted. She was condemned to suffer and carry the burden that others more liable, more culpable, were only too willing to pass onto her. She fully accepted her role in the political violence that consumed the North. What she could not abide by was the fact that others who had given her orders throughout her very active IRA life seemed eager to adopt the politics of Gethesemane and deny her, disown the IRA, shift the blame for its activities onto subordinates, and mendaciously brand her a liar. It was a burden that grew no lighter as the years grew heavier and her wearier. 

As we carried her along the road where she had seen so many carried before her, the coffin probably heavier than she was, I sensed that the burden of pall bearing her mortal remains was ultimately the price to be paid to secure her own unburdening. For Dolours, republican life had indeed been the Via Dolorosa.

Adapting to changing times.

Guest writer Davy Carlin, a Belfast activist, with his views on the G8 summit. 

Today’s world is a far different place than that of the beginnings of the recent Irish War, better known today, as the ‘Troubles’. Yet, within such a local insurrection it is nevertheless important to acknowledge the global and historical context in which that insurrection had taken place.