The arrest and detention without bail of 61-year-old veteran republican
Martin McCauley on foot of a British extradition warrant has been
strongly condemned by republicans.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has called on Taoiseach Simon Harris
to provide full answers to reports that aircraft carrying weaponry from
the United States to Israel have flown through Irish airspace.
The British Army witnessed the IRA’s capture of its most infamous
captain and spy Robert Nairac, but did not intervene, according to a
report this week.
Sinn Féin has backed away from a controversy over gender-changing
puberty-blockers for children, opting to abide by the advice of the
North’s Chief Medical Office to ban their use in the North in line with
Britain.
Na Fianna Éireann, the Irish nationalist/republican youth organisation, was
founded by Constance Markievicz in 1909. A manifesto from them originally
published in ‘Irish Freedom’ on Saturday, 1st June, 1912.
The 2nd Annual Independent Dublin Republicans ‘Remember the Hunger
Strikers 1917-1981’ Commemoration took place last Saturday, August 24. The main oration was given by former PoW Frank Quinn of the 1916 Societies.
A campaign by Ireland’s state-run broadcaster to demonise republicans
backfired spectacularly this week after events it tried to smear drew
record-breaking attendances.
The Ulster Unionist Party is at war with itself following the shock
resignation of party leader Doug Beattie, citing a lack of support from
senior party officials.
An openly political bid by PSNI chief Jon Boutcher to criminalise three
members of his police force for taking part in local sporting
celebrations in south Armagh has been greeted with widespread disbelief.
The widely respected Derry-born journalist, author and equality
activist, Nell McCafferty, who helped break down censorship of
republicans in the 1980s, has died.
The families of several victims of the British Army in Derry have said
they will not engage with the new Independent Commission for
Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
The imposition of a huge sectarian parade through Derry by the loyalist
Apprentice Boys organisation resulted in an outbreak of rioting on
Saturday, with fireworks, petrol bombs and other missiles being thrown
at PSNI vehicles.
The Dublin government has finally acknowledged that Israel is pursuing a
strategy of killing of children and other civilians in Gaza, but has
fallen short of backing action to end it.
The brother of a man shot dead on the orders of a British double agent
says he has lost faith in the British state after it was reported that
MI5 failed to disclose hundreds of pages of information on the agent.
In a new low for the PSNI, two republican activists were subjected to a
stop-and-search detention inside the grounds of a Derry church after
meeting with their parish priest to discuss community issues.
A decision by data protection officers to uphold the PSNI’s refusal to
release basic information on fingerprint evidence from the McGurk’s Bar
Massacre in 1971 has been condemned by the families of the victims who
believe the force has either destroyed the evidence or is still
attempting to conceal it.
Kneecap, a film based on the rise of the Belfast Irish language rap
group, has been selected as the Irish submission for best international
feature at the Oscars next year.
Down GAA have acquired a lease on land in Ballykinler owned by the
British Ministry of Defence (MOD). This same site was used by the MOD to
train Unionist death squads to murder nationalists in the local area.
The shadowy links between far-right instigators of racist violence in
Dublin and loyalist paramilitaries in the north of Ireland was on
display in Belfast city centre last Saturday when a fascist mob marched
through the city and carried out a wave of attacks on Muslim-owned
businesses.
Some members of the PSNI riot squad wore racist symbols on their
uniforms as they failed to prevent anti-Muslim violence on the streets
of Belfast last weekend.
Republican Prisoners at Maghaberry prison have drawn attention to
“unrelenting and spineless” attempts by elements within British Crown
Forces to torment their comrade Gavin Coyle, who has been repeatedly
told he is under threat inside Maghaberry prison.
Former IRA Chief of Staff John Joe McGirl passed away 36 years ago this
year, but recently some establishment figures have been calling for the
annual commemoration in Ballinamore to be ‘cancelled’. Next week brings the 30th
anniversary event in honour of a man who dedicated his life to defying
British rule in Ireland.
As continuing hoax bomb attacks on a Gaelic sports club in the area
prove, Irish culture is under constant attack in east Belfast. Now
tensions are rising ahead of the arrivals of pupils to an Irish language
school in the area.
Unionists and loyalists reacted with bitterness to the celebrations
which followed Armagh’s triumph in the Gaelic games All-Ireland football
final last weekend.
The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association has hit out at the
failure of “former comrades” to offer support over a continuing campaign
of state harassment.
The new London government is making a small change to controversial Tory
cover-up legislation by dropping its appeal against a court ruling
removing the immunity for British war criminals and others who
co-operate with its ‘truth’ process.
Anti-Imperialist Action Ireland said it and members of other republican
and anti-racist groups forced a number of “fascist agitators” off the
streets of Dundalk as they were attempting to instigate conflict.
There have been calls for Orange Order marches to be permanently banned
from the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, County Armagh after tensions over a
new ‘stunt’ application to march the infamously controversial route.
There were tears and cheers from jubilant supporters as Irish Olympic
gold medal winner Daniel Wiffen watched the national flag raised to the
strains of Amhrán na bhFiann at the Aquatics Centre in Paris on Tuesday.
When far right protestors in Coolock use the imagery and words of Bobby
Sands, I ask myself if have they read the poem which spoke of how “the
inner thing” has “withstood the blows of a million years”?