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Pamphlet Review
Magazine reviews
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Prisoners centre stage
2rd P J McGrory Lecture - Prisoners and the Negotiating Process
The South African Experience
By Paula McBride
Available from Féile an Phobail
Price £2.50
Saoirse has been relaunched, Sinn Féin delegations are visiting
republican political prisoners to discuss the present political
situation, even the Irish News is writing editorials calling for
the need to move on the prisoners issue if the peace process is
to be successful. It's a time of high hopes and expectations for
relatives, families and friends as well as for the prisoners
themselves.
But equally, it is a time for suspicion and scepticism. The
experience of the last peace process has left many people with a
`once bitten, twice shy' attitude when it comes to putting any
faith or trust in a British government's willingness to move on
the issue of political prisoners.
It is timely, therefore that the West Belfast Festival Discussion
Group have published the proceedings of last year's 2nd P J
McGrory Memorial Lecture, `Prisoners and the Negotiating Process
- The South African Experience'. The talk was delivered by human
rights activist Paula McBride and covered briefly some of the
crucial issues which have developed in South Africa since the
transition to democracy.
Of particular note is McBride's insistence on setting goals which
are achievable. Equally important is her reflection on the fact
that many political prisoners are still in jails several years
after the ANC came to power. The reality of negotiating an end to
political imprisonment is that it's a long and often slow
process.
McBride also discussed the successes and failures of the Truth
Commission which has been up and running for several years. She
described the importance of opening up the process so that all
people feel ownership of the commission, and highlighted the
failures involved in the management of the commission by the
judges who fail to see the importance of the participative
aspect.
The lecture was chaired by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams and
the pamphlet includes his introductory remarks and a lively
question and answer session. For anyone interested in political
prisoners the pamphlet is essential reading. It not only
highlights all that's possible in terms of advancing the release
of our prisoners but identifies many of the pitfalls that we
should avoid.
By Eoin O Broin
Not to be glossed over
Magill
Price £1.95
Without a doubt Magill in its heyday was the best mainstream
current affairs magazine the country produced. It was
investigative and challenging. Its most celebrated targets were
Charlie Haughey, the Cosgrave Coalition and the Heavy Gang which
framed Nicky Kelly. Its reporting on the Six Counties was often a
lone voice in the censored Dublin media. Now Magill has been
relaunched with its originator Vincent Browne at the helm. The
original Magill declined sadly under his management from a hard
hitting journal to a glossy mag for rugby types.
The first edition of the new Magill is something of a
disappointment. There is no evidence of new young writers, and,
disgracefully on the eve of historic talks, no coverage at all of
the peace process. There is much trivia and space-filling. That
said, the return of the magazine is welcome; it has the potential
to make an important contribution and and we wish it well in its
future development.
By Micheál MacDonncha
Céide
September/October 1997
Price £1.95
This new magazine is subtitled ``A review from the margins'' and
its editorial states: ``We hope that those who are marginalised,
who have not shared in the largesse dispensed by the Celtic
Tiger, will find in the review intellectual and moral support.''
From that, the magazine is certainly to be welcomed.
Many of the contributors approach their subject from that
not-quite-dissident wing of the Catholic Church which stands for
social justice. It is an important and vibrant part of
intellectual life in Ireland today, though if the magazine is to
reach out to all the margins on the island, as it aspires to do,
its future issues must move away from its particular Catholic
milieu. A number of articles, some critical of the hierarchy,
reviews and a photo essay (about climbing Craogh Patrick) which
gives the magazine an in-house feel, though other articles do
touch on wider issues. Céide's development should be watched with
interest.
By Brian Campbell
History Ireland
Autumn 1997
Price £3.95
History Ireland is always worth reading and I would especially
recommend this issue to Republicans. Its theme is Ireland's
connection with Germany. Among the articles is one asking whether
Frank Ryan was a collaborator. It favours the view that he wasn't
- two months before his death in a German sanatorium in June 1944
a secret German intelligence report said, ``all that is known of
him is that he is a Communist and stood in the Dáil elections of
1937''.
A fascinating article describes the impressions of German travel
writers in Ireland from 1828-1850. They were amazed at the
poverty of the people and their treatment by landlords. One of
them, Jacob Venedy, had this to say after witnessing Orange
marches: ``If the English had set out to invent an institution to
keep alive forever the Irish people's memory of the wrong that
English people had done against them and to perpetuate the idea
that the one group were the vanquished, the other the victors,
the one the slave, the other the masters, they could not have
invented anything better than those Orange Lodges.''
other article of interest to Republicans is one that presents
the evidence that Roger Casement's Black Diaries were forgeries.
History Ireland is quite expensive but a year's subscription at
£14 is a present well worth persuading someone to buy you for
Christmas.
By Brian Campbell
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